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 Kenya and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Silicon Teens to the disco 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 Lee Hazlewood. All the underground hits.
All Selector Dub Narcotic tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marine Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crime,
Funky Four + One,
Michelle Simonal,
The Last Poets,
Fluxion,
Chris & Cosey,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Alice Coltrane,
The Skatalites,
Amon Düül II,
Roy Ayers,
Ornette Coleman,
Main Source,
Al Stewart,
The Pretty Things,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sister Nancy,
Television,
Henry Cow,
The Human League,
Procol Harum,
Fugazi,
Quantec,
Chris Corsano,
Essential Logic,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Fear,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Smiths,
Infiniti,
The Monochrome Set,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The J.B.'s,
UT,
Byron Stingily,
The Gories,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Techniques,
Supertramp,
Wolf Eyes,
The Velvet Underground,
Babytalk,
The Busters,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Gregory Isaacs,
Index,
MDC,
L. Decosne,
Soft Cell,
The Divine Comedy,
Rod Modell,
Mark Hollis,
The Shadows of Knight,
David Bowie,
Leonard Cohen,
Crooked Eye,
Colin Newman,
Throbbing Gristle,
the Slits,
Deadbeat,
Clear Light,
Josef K, Josef K, Josef K, Josef K.
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.