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 Madagascar and from London.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Avey Tare to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Moebius. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Hutcherson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
Yellowson,
ABC,
Camberwell Now,
Henry Cow,
Brick,
Urselle,
kango's stein massive,
Swans,
Blancmange,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
a-ha,
Negative Approach,
Frankie Knuckles,
Curtis Mayfield,
Charles Mingus,
Delta 5,
CMW,
The Buckinghams,
Buzzcocks,
Sam Rivers,
The Pop Group,
Stiv Bators,
Roger Hodgson,
Bush Tetras,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gastr Del Sol,
Traffic Nightmare,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Adolescents,
The Doors,
X-102,
Arcadia,
The Golliwogs,
Das Ding,
Pylon,
The Stooges,
Porter Ricks,
Guru Guru,
Aaron Thompson,
Crash Course in Science,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Moleskins,
Malaria!,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Fat Boys,
The Offenders,
Rod Modell,
Graham Central Station,
The Birthday Party,
June Days,
Banda Bassotti,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Silicon Teens,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Don Cherry,
Terrestrial Tones,
Jandek,
Sällskapet,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Beasts of Bourbon, Beasts of Bourbon, Beasts of Bourbon, Beasts of Bourbon.
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.