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 Bolivia and from Edmonton.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Procol Harum to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Cybotron. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a D'Angelo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lower 48,
Loose Ends,
The American Breed,
Marcia Griffiths,
PIL,
Siglo XX,
Vainqueur,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Japan,
Buzzcocks,
Deepchord,
Dawn Penn,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pere Ubu,
Ten City,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Blake Baxter,
Scion,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Associates,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Interpol,
The Blues Magoos,
Radiohead,
Soul Sonic Force,
Heaven 17,
The Blackbyrds,
AZ,
Electric Prunes,
Scientists,
Rites of Spring,
The Cowsills,
Talk Talk,
Joey Negro,
Faraquet,
Sun Ra,
Minny Pops,
Sound Behaviour,
the Bar-Kays,
Young Marble Giants,
KRS-One,
Yusef Lateef,
Tommy Roe,
Hot Snakes,
Zero Boys,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Roy Ayers,
The Remains,
The Doobie Brothers,
Marmalade,
Janne Schatter,
Tomorrow,
Agent Orange,
Ice-T,
Rekid,
Man Parrish,
Iggy Pop,
Ponytail,
Kaleidoscope,
The Tremeloes,
Ken Boothe,
Marc Almond,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.