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 Brunei and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Television Personalities to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Urselle. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Marshall Jefferson,
Robert Wyatt,
Marc Almond,
Section 25,
Talk Talk,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Hoover,
The Sound,
Skarface,
Junior Murvin,
The Music Machine,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
the Fania All-Stars,
Dennis Brown,
The Invisible,
Matthew Halsall,
Public Image Ltd.,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Bill Near,
Sparks,
Harry Pussy,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Freddie Wadling,
Danielle Patucci,
Smog,
The Gun Club,
World's Most,
Babytalk,
CMW,
Accadde A,
Pantytec,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
John Lydon,
cv313,
The Blackbyrds,
Marmalade,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Slits,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Hasil Adkins,
Ossler,
B.T. Express,
Zero Boys,
Donald Byrd,
H. Thieme,
Scan 7,
The Skatalites,
Bill Wells,
The Count Five,
Ken Boothe,
Barclay James Harvest,
Au Pairs,
Gong,
Pere Ubu,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Moleskins,
The Mojo Men,
D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo.
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.