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 Bulgaria and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 R.M.O. to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Newcleus. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Urselle record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gerry Rafferty,
Minny Pops,
Ludus,
Bill Near,
The Cramps,
Babytalk,
The Evens,
Echospace,
Girls At Our Best!,
Rekid,
Alison Limerick,
Fat Boys,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bill Wells,
New York Dolls,
La Düsseldorf,
Piero Umiliani,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Masters at Work,
Agitation Free,
Joy Division,
Half Japanese,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Mission of Burma,
Urselle,
The Divine Comedy,
Stereo Dub,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
David Bowie,
Soul II Soul,
Cymande,
Altered Images,
Nick Fraelich,
Pantaleimon,
Theoretical Girls,
The Cure,
Barbara Tucker,
Schoolly D,
Lebanon Hanover,
EPMD,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Minnie Riperton,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Average White Band,
Sparks,
Cybotron,
Gil Scott Heron,
Man Eating Sloth,
Flipper,
Michelle Simonal,
Rosa Yemen,
The Last Poets,
The Offenders,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Deadbeat,
The Martian,
The Fire Engines,
Nico,
Scratch Acid,
New Order,
Anthony Braxton,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.