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 Costa Rica and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Spokane.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Gang Gang Dance to the techno 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 Jeff Mills. All the underground hits.
All Pharoah Sanders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Thompson Twins,
Minnie Riperton,
The Gun Club,
Donald Byrd,
Tres Demented,
Ludus,
Depeche Mode,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Anakelly,
Boogie Down Productions,
kango's stein massive,
Second Layer,
Drive Like Jehu,
Crispian St. Peters,
Carl Craig,
The American Breed,
Average White Band,
Lungfish,
Gang Starr,
The Names,
Parry Music,
Altered Images,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Yusef Lateef,
Gang Green,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Brass Construction,
Vladislav Delay,
the Fania All-Stars,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
LL Cool J,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Faust,
Sound Behaviour,
David Bowie,
Scan 7,
The Seeds,
Joe Smooth,
Pere Ubu,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Chris & Cosey,
Lalann,
Minny Pops,
the Germs,
The Mummies,
Harmonia,
Toni Rubio,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The United States of America,
Hoover,
Stockholm Monsters,
Andrew Hill,
L. Decosne,
Whodini,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Black Moon,
Eric B and Rakim,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.