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 Tanzania 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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 clarinet 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 Pharoah Sanders to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Masters at Work. All the underground hits.
All Bobbi Humphrey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jacob Miller record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MDC,
Babytalk,
Television Personalities,
Slave,
The Tremeloes,
The Monochrome Set,
Glenn Branca,
Japan,
Newcleus,
Second Layer,
Tommy Roe,
Gang of Four,
EPMD,
H. Thieme,
Joey Negro,
Maurizio,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gerry Rafferty,
Masters at Work,
Michelle Simonal,
Bang On A Can,
Zapp,
The Misunderstood,
Au Pairs,
Soul II Soul,
Gong,
Maleditus Sound,
Blossom Toes,
Interpol,
New Age Steppers,
Alton Ellis,
Delta 5,
Minutemen,
Letta Mbulu,
Soul Sonic Force,
Barry Ungar,
Skriet,
DJ Sneak,
Theoretical Girls,
The Doobie Brothers,
Make Up,
Thompson Twins,
Severed Heads,
Marine Girls,
The Fall,
MC5,
Crispy Ambulance,
Eve St. Jones,
In Retrospect,
Moby Grape,
The Martian,
Yellowson,
F. McDonald,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Amon Düül II,
Sugar Minott,
Robert Wyatt,
Kenny Larkin,
Prince Buster,
Silicon Teens,
The Gap Band,
Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma, Mission of Burma.
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.