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 Eritrea and from Spokane.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Pole to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Sex Pistols. All the underground hits.
All The Stooges tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABC record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Trojans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
Warren Ellis,
The Red Krayola,
John Cale,
Grandmaster Flash,
Idris Muhammad,
Sonic Youth,
Eurythmics,
New Order,
Arcadia,
Judy Mowatt,
Barbara Tucker,
the Germs,
Rotary Connection,
Ituana,
The Divine Comedy,
Carl Craig,
Mad Mike,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Thee Headcoats,
The Pop Group,
Heaven 17,
The Fire Engines,
Suicide,
Aloha Tigers,
T.S.O.L.,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Joe Smooth,
The Moody Blues,
Rod Modell,
Reuben Wilson,
Interpol,
Smog,
Janne Schatter,
The Gories,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Gladiators,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Sugar Minott,
Man Eating Sloth,
Popol Vuh,
Tears for Fears,
Laurel Aitken,
The Blues Magoos,
The Invisible,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Monochrome Set,
The Barracudas,
MC5,
Motorama,
The Fugs,
John Coltrane,
Gang Green,
Altered Images,
Harpers Bizarre,
Funkadelic,
Young Marble Giants,
Blake Baxter,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lakeside,
Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters.
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.