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 Palau and from Beijing.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Sun Ra to the jazz 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 Peter and Kerry. All the underground hits.
All The Invisible tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funky Four + One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & Metallica record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
Ultimate Spinach,
Barclay James Harvest,
John Holt,
Ultra Naté,
Average White Band,
One Last Wish,
A Certain Ratio,
Cluster,
The Five Americans,
Liliput,
Yusef Lateef,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
DJ Style,
KRS-One,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Moebius,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Smoke,
Los Fastidios,
Motorama,
cv313,
the Normal,
the Slits,
Letta Mbulu,
The Doobie Brothers,
X-Ray Spex,
Bobby Womack,
Laurel Aitken,
Big Daddy Kane,
Camouflage,
The Velvet Underground,
The Human League,
Brick,
Gong,
Bill Near,
Byron Stingily,
The Victims,
The Monks,
Man Parrish,
Chris Corsano,
Model 500,
Scan 7,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Index,
The Sonics,
Sun City Girls,
The Pretty Things,
Jeff Mills,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Dead C,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bauhaus,
Circle Jerks,
Tubeway Army,
Harry Pussy,
Morten Harket,
kango's stein massive,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pussy Galore,
Franke,
Basic Channel,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.