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 Kiribati and from Winnipeg.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Winnipeg.
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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Pretty Things. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tomorrow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
The Star Department,
One Last Wish,
Godley & Creme,
Jawbox,
the Swans,
Lindisfarne,
Amon Düül II,
Surgeon,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Nico,
ABBA,
Pantytec,
Whodini,
E-Dancer,
Darondo,
Wasted Youth,
Andrew Hill,
Colin Newman,
Trumans Water,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ice-T,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Section 25,
David Axelrod,
Ornette Coleman,
Johnny Osbourne,
Eric Dolphy,
The Detroit Cobras,
Graham Central Station,
Massinfluence,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Byron Stingily,
Bill Near,
Fela Kuti,
Rotary Connection,
Q65,
Gabor Szabo,
Wolf Eyes,
Marcia Griffiths,
Quadrant,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Swans,
Pierre Henry,
Swell Maps,
The Cowsills,
Niagra,
The Fall,
Chrome,
Scratch Acid,
Mission of Burma,
Talk Talk,
The Techniques,
The Mummies,
Roxette,
Sarah Menescal,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
DNA,
Technova,
Derrick May,
Bobby Sherman,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.