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 Seychelles and from Accra.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 theremin 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 Gang Starr to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suburban Knight record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mantronix,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Toni Rubio,
Lungfish,
Judy Mowatt,
Hot Snakes,
Howard Jones,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Last Poets,
Terry Callier,
The Dirtbombs,
The Seeds,
Susan Cadogan,
Johnny Clarke,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Roxy Music,
Sexual Harrassment,
Don Cherry,
The Gun Club,
Black Moon,
Black Flag,
Magma,
Rod Modell,
Johnny Osbourne,
Swans,
Hasil Adkins,
Janne Schatter,
Gil Scott Heron,
Nas,
Fluxion,
Jerry's Kids,
Kevin Saunderson,
Nirvana,
Skriet,
OOIOO,
Skarface,
Ronnie Foster,
Underground Resistance,
Chris Corsano,
The Divine Comedy,
Stetsasonic,
Boz Scaggs,
Eric B and Rakim,
Subhumans,
Flamin' Groovies,
Jeru the Damaja,
Index,
Sound Behaviour,
Amon Düül II,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lindisfarne,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Kerri Chandler,
Glambeats Corp.,
Danielle Patucci,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Brothers Johnson,
Fad Gadget,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.