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 United States and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pere Ubu to the jazz 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 The Doors. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soul II Soul,
X-102,
Angry Samoans,
Kool Moe Dee,
Newcleus,
Aswad,
Camberwell Now,
Eric Copeland,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Porter Ricks,
Gang Starr,
Niagra,
Nirvana,
The Durutti Column,
Brick,
Curtis Mayfield,
New York Dolls,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Circle Jerks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Joey Negro,
Pet Shop Boys,
Wings,
The Litter,
Quantec,
The Smoke,
Harmonia,
Pantaleimon,
Lyres,
Ken Boothe,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Suburban Knight,
Wally Richardson,
The New Christs,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Electric Prunes,
Lungfish,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Velvet Underground,
Agitation Free,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Dual Sessions,
Sixth Finger,
Arthur Verocai,
Agent Orange,
Hashim,
Das Ding,
Lindisfarne,
Eve St. Jones,
Schoolly D,
Jacob Miller,
Oblivians,
The Dirtbombs,
Symarip,
Quando Quango,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers.
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.