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 Honduras and from Seoul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Godley & Creme to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Eden Ahbez tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Red Krayola record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nation of Ulysses,
Drexciya,
U.S. Maple,
Public Enemy,
Colin Newman,
Chris & Cosey,
Kaleidoscope,
Zero Boys,
Andrew Hill,
New York Dolls,
Chrome,
Jandek,
Ronnie Foster,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Barrington Levy,
Sister Nancy,
The Slackers,
The Moleskins,
Henry Cow,
The Beau Brummels,
Cybotron,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Underground Resistance,
Warsaw,
Dorothy Ashby,
Altered Images,
Stetsasonic,
The Trojans,
Pierre Henry,
The Residents,
Au Pairs,
Minny Pops,
Ludus,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Move,
Surgeon,
Tubeway Army,
Sun Ra,
Ice-T,
Mantronix,
Pole,
Boz Scaggs,
The Walker Brothers,
Faust,
the Association,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
E-Dancer,
The Motions,
The Tremeloes,
Stiv Bators,
The Evens,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Max Romeo,
The Busters,
Scott Walker,
Zapp,
Gabor Szabo,
The Smoke,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rhythm & Sound,
Echospace,
Grandmaster Flash,
Can,
Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza.
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.