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 Ethiopia and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 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 Archie Shepp to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Slick Rick. All the underground hits.
All Alphaville tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
The Dave Clark Five,
The United States of America,
Moss Icon,
Agitation Free,
Talk Talk,
Gang of Four,
Isaac Hayes,
Gerry Rafferty,
Rites of Spring,
Chrome,
The Gories,
Inner City,
Negative Approach,
Quando Quango,
Arab on Radar,
Prince Buster,
Duran Duran,
Quantec,
The Count Five,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Slits,
Excepter,
Pere Ubu,
EPMD,
Donny Hathaway,
Lightning Bolt,
Scan 7,
The Monks,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dawn Penn,
Can,
the Association,
The Sonics,
Eli Mardock,
Roxy Music,
Slave,
Accadde A,
The Dirtbombs,
Porter Ricks,
Big Daddy Kane,
David Axelrod,
Young Marble Giants,
Mary Jane Girls,
Radio Birdman,
Sight & Sound,
The Fall,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Aaron Thompson,
Fugazi,
Sandy B,
Interpol,
Eyeless In Gaza,
A Flock of Seagulls,
48th St. Collective,
Mark Hollis,
K-Klass,
Tommy Roe,
Dark Day,
Soft Cell,
Wolf Eyes,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.