Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Austria and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Gabor Szabo to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All Liaisons Dangereuses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Swans,
The Motions,
Kevin Saunderson,
Surgeon,
Eric Copeland,
Piero Umiliani,
Dawn Penn,
The Tremeloes,
Joe Finger,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Electric Prunes,
Warsaw,
The Fortunes,
Bill Wells,
Crime,
Stereo Dub,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Jacques Brel,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Man Eating Sloth,
Michelle Simonal,
Technova,
The Selecter,
Quantec,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Jeff Mills,
Gang Starr,
X-Ray Spex,
Marine Girls,
Amon Düül,
The Leaves,
Lindisfarne,
Franke,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Das Ding,
The Names,
Amon Düül II,
The Seeds,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Wolf Eyes,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Skriet,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Flipper,
Fat Boys,
The Evens,
The Beau Brummels,
Au Pairs,
Half Japanese,
Ohio Players,
Junior Murvin,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Hashim,
Barbara Tucker,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.