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 Estonia and from Stockholm.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Buzzcocks to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Warren Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Pagans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liaisons Dangereuses record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Sun Ra,
The Gun Club,
Pantytec,
Second Layer,
The Remains,
Gang Starr,
Unrelated Segments,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ronan,
David Bowie,
Monolake,
Blossom Toes,
Q65,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Agent Orange,
Funkadelic,
Girls At Our Best!,
Trumans Water,
The Velvet Underground,
The Tremeloes,
Tears for Fears,
Skriet,
The Fortunes,
The Skatalites,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Smoke,
Swans,
David Axelrod,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Associates,
Throbbing Gristle,
Brick,
Livin' Joy,
Man Parrish,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Traffic Nightmare,
Nico,
Sly & The Family Stone,
John Lydon,
The Neon Judgement,
The J.B.'s,
Unwound,
10cc,
The Kinks,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Index,
The Smiths,
Angry Samoans,
Erasure,
Average White Band,
Aural Exciters,
Todd Terry,
Pagans,
Quantec,
Dead Boys,
Ludus,
Charles Mingus,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Peter and Kerry,
D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo.
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.