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 Congo and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Rufus Thomas to the crunk 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 The Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The J.B.'s record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warsaw,
R.M.O.,
Boogie Down Productions,
Buzzcocks,
Neu!,
Infiniti,
Monolake,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Soul Sonic Force,
Metal Thangz,
Kevin Saunderson,
New York Dolls,
Circle Jerks,
Maurizio,
Erykah Badu,
Carl Craig,
Yaz,
Skaos,
Ornette Coleman,
Stereo Dub,
Blossom Toes,
Marvin Gaye,
Cecil Taylor,
John Lydon,
Interpol,
Jeff Lynne,
Slick Rick,
John Coltrane,
The Busters,
Leonard Cohen,
The Selecter,
The Vogues,
Bronski Beat,
Mr. Review,
Camberwell Now,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Faraquet,
Animal Collective,
Ossler,
X-102,
Barclay James Harvest,
Aaron Thompson,
Arcadia,
The Monks,
Silicon Teens,
This Heat,
Traffic Nightmare,
Unwound,
Drexciya,
The Kinks,
Cymande,
Underground Resistance,
The Zeros,
Swell Maps,
Hashim,
Sun Ra,
Anakelly,
Radio Birdman,
Roger Hodgson,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.