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 Netherlands and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 London Community Gospel Choir to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Remains. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minutemen,
Freddie Wadling,
Fela Kuti,
Terry Callier,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Mandrill,
Terrestrial Tones,
Colin Newman,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bad Manners,
The Grass Roots,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Knickerbockers,
Mars,
Soulsonic Force,
Fad Gadget,
Eric Dolphy,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Beau Brummels,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bootsy Collins,
Flipper,
Bizarre Inc.,
Gong,
Sam Rivers,
The Human League,
Reagan Youth,
The Victims,
Camberwell Now,
JFA,
Supertramp,
Popol Vuh,
Juan Atkins,
Peter and Kerry,
Marcia Griffiths,
Soul II Soul,
Marvin Gaye,
Barry Ungar,
Carl Craig,
Goldenarms,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Eddi Front,
Drexciya,
Erykah Badu,
Todd Terry,
ABBA,
Circle Jerks,
Isaac Hayes,
Dual Sessions,
Deakin,
Swans,
Porter Ricks,
Faust,
Boz Scaggs,
The Wake,
Neu!,
Quando Quango,
Rites of Spring,
Nas,
Todd Rundgren,
Yaz,
James White and The Blacks, James White and The Blacks, James White and The Blacks, James White and The Blacks.
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.