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 Sierra Leone and from Winnipeg.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the 808 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 Robert Wyatt to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Man Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Outsiders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Major Organ And The Adding Machine 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Sneak,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Prince Buster,
Chris Corsano,
Marshall Jefferson,
Kevin Saunderson,
Pagans,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Fall,
Chris & Cosey,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Adolescents,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Gladiators,
The Cowsills,
The J.B.'s,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Motions,
Tomorrow,
Ronan,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Blues Magoos,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Kenny Larkin,
The Dave Clark Five,
Jacob Miller,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Vainqueur,
Curtis Mayfield,
Scott Walker,
The Vogues,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Donny Hathaway,
Lower 48,
Pere Ubu,
The Tremeloes,
Kas Product,
Bad Manners,
10cc,
Terry Callier,
Hardrive,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Robert Wyatt,
The Litter,
The Saints,
Intrusion,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Dead Boys,
Joe Finger,
Au Pairs,
the Bar-Kays,
Aaron Thompson,
the Sonics,
Rites of Spring,
F. McDonald,
Alton Ellis,
Cymande,
Leonard Cohen,
Michelle Simonal,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.