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 Rwanda and from Copenhagen.
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 Portland and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the guitar 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 James White and The Blacks to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Curtis Mayfield record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minny Pops record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Durutti Column,
Nick Fraelich,
Delta 5,
Matthew Halsall,
Bootsy Collins,
Aloha Tigers,
The Searchers,
Ponytail,
Archie Shepp,
Y Pants,
R.M.O.,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Brass Construction,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Alphaville,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Newcleus,
Easy Going,
Wally Richardson,
Mantronix,
Outsiders,
Alison Limerick,
Talk Talk,
Arthur Verocai,
Pussy Galore,
The Pretty Things,
Spandau Ballet,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Silicon Teens,
Flash Fearless,
Zero Boys,
the Bar-Kays,
The Smiths,
New York Dolls,
Wire,
Lindisfarne,
Monks,
Scientists,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Inner City,
Eurythmics,
The Fugs,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Slick Rick,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Underground Resistance,
The Seeds,
Livin' Joy,
The Dirtbombs,
Hoover,
Goldenarms,
Excepter,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Boredoms,
Jeru the Damaja,
Curtis Mayfield,
Stockholm Monsters,
Kenny Larkin,
Pagans,
The Mummies,
Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection.
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.