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 Sweden and from Portland.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Livin' Joy to the punk 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Chris & Cosey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Masters at Work record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Skarface record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Clear Light,
Index,
The Sonics,
The Litter,
Q and Not U,
Interpol,
Donny Hathaway,
Stiv Bators,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
James White and The Blacks,
AZ,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Normal,
Skriet,
Jandek,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Guru Guru,
Man Eating Sloth,
Stereo Dub,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Searchers,
Eve St. Jones,
Television Personalities,
Joy Division,
The Pretty Things,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Jerry's Kids,
Danielle Patucci,
The Smiths,
Whodini,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Toasters,
Underground Resistance,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Harmonia,
Dual Sessions,
Unwound,
Aural Exciters,
Reagan Youth,
Franke,
Public Enemy,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Cowsills,
Henry Cow,
Delon & Dalcan,
the Fania All-Stars,
John Lydon,
Gang Starr,
Archie Shepp,
Kenny Larkin,
The Gun Club,
Wasted Youth,
Bootsy Collins,
Hot Snakes,
Camouflage,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
K-Klass,
Robert Wyatt,
Chris Corsano,
The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes.
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.