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 Tanzania and from Tokyo.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 oboe 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 Josef K to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Erykah Badu. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Justin Hinds & The Dominoes 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Bananas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donny Hathaway,
Au Pairs,
Motorama,
Pantaleimon,
Livin' Joy,
Sound Behaviour,
Mad Mike,
Bronski Beat,
Popol Vuh,
Dawn Penn,
Accadde A,
Saccharine Trust,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
the Swans,
Y Pants,
Ossler,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Electric Prunes,
Heaven 17,
Eli Mardock,
Lakeside,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Robert Görl,
Aaron Thompson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Johnny Clarke,
Kevin Saunderson,
Marine Girls,
Peter and Kerry,
Leonard Cohen,
Television Personalities,
The Mojo Men,
Dark Day,
Marmalade,
Lightning Bolt,
The Slits,
Alton Ellis,
The Pop Group,
Gang Green,
Brand Nubian,
Skaos,
Agitation Free,
Wasted Youth,
Lower 48,
Shuggie Otis,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Moody Blues,
Scott Walker,
Soft Cell,
Josef K,
The Golliwogs,
Thee Headcoats,
Yusef Lateef,
The Blues Magoos,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Wake,
Delta 5,
Nation of Ulysses,
Moebius,
John Lydon,
Masters at Work,
Joe Smooth,
Shoche, Shoche, Shoche, Shoche.
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.