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 Belgium and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Magazine to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & Metallica tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gabor Szabo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Marc Almond,
Black Sheep,
Minutemen,
the Sonics,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Tres Demented,
Gil Scott Heron,
Jacques Brel,
Scan 7,
Faust,
Faraquet,
Hardrive,
The Alarm Clocks,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The J.B.'s,
Thee Headcoats,
Barbara Tucker,
Schoolly D,
Altered Images,
the Swans,
Kaleidoscope,
Roy Ayers,
Tomorrow,
Sam Rivers,
Harpers Bizarre,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Barracudas,
The Gap Band,
Nik Kershaw,
Smog,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Siglo XX,
David Axelrod,
New Age Steppers,
Johnny Clarke,
Harmonia,
Byron Stingily,
Nas,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
La Düsseldorf,
Roxette,
Roxy Music,
The Techniques,
Guru Guru,
The Pop Group,
The Vogues,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Neon Judgement,
Black Moon,
Swans,
The Fire Engines,
T. Rex,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Y Pants,
The Fall,
Ludus,
Scientists,
Godley & Creme,
Fear,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.