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 Pakistan and from Stockholm.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 spring reverb 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 Blossom Toes to the rock 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 Pulsallama. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Seeds 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
the Soft Cell,
Yellowson,
Ornette Coleman,
The Cramps,
Moebius,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Avey Tare,
Amon Düül,
Inner City,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Nick Fraelich,
The Names,
Boredoms,
OOIOO,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Q and Not U,
Marshall Jefferson,
Brick,
Ralphi Rosario,
Delon & Dalcan,
Soft Cell,
The Offenders,
Terrestrial Tones,
Faust,
The Fall,
The Star Department,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Con Funk Shun,
DJ Sneak,
The Fugs,
Brand Nubian,
Japan,
Eve St. Jones,
Excepter,
Accadde A,
Lightning Bolt,
Freddie Wadling,
The Motions,
Pussy Galore,
Kool Moe Dee,
Monks,
The Martian,
The Seeds,
Jandek,
Hashim,
The Fortunes,
Gichy Dan,
Suburban Knight,
Rakim,
Lou Reed,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Matthew Bourne,
Amon Düül II,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Smoke,
Crispy Ambulance,
Scientists,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sixth Finger,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.