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 Armenia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 guitar 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 Shuggie Otis to the grime 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 Isaac Hayes. All the underground hits.
All Glenn Branca tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moleskins,
Jacques Brel,
The Move,
Eurythmics,
Scrapy,
Barry Ungar,
Zero Boys,
Gastr Del Sol,
Agent Orange,
The Smoke,
Prince Buster,
Lalo Schifrin,
D'Angelo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minutemen,
Cecil Taylor,
Cheater Slicks,
Pantytec,
Dark Day,
Dead Boys,
Y Pants,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Happenings,
Minnie Riperton,
Con Funk Shun,
Yaz,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Buzzcocks,
Aloha Tigers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Marcia Griffiths,
Lindisfarne,
La Düsseldorf,
LL Cool J,
Index,
Joy Division,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Derrick May,
Scratch Acid,
Ossler,
Pierre Henry,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Arab on Radar,
The Real Kids,
Marine Girls,
The Toasters,
The Mummies,
the Normal,
Deakin,
the Bar-Kays,
Henry Cow,
Archie Shepp,
The Misunderstood,
The Moody Blues,
the Soft Cell,
Grauzone,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ultimate Spinach,
Wolf Eyes,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.