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 Zambia and from Halifax.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 EPMD to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Heavy D & The Boyz. All the underground hits.
All DNA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Minnie Riperton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rapeman,
Sexual Harrassment,
Roxette,
Althea and Donna,
Ohio Players,
Dennis Brown,
Eli Mardock,
Leonard Cohen,
Altered Images,
Rhythm & Sound,
Quando Quango,
Swell Maps,
Letta Mbulu,
Bauhaus,
The Red Krayola,
Sixth Finger,
The Fuzztones,
Japan,
Jawbox,
James White and The Blacks,
Tears for Fears,
Ituana,
Intrusion,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Black Dice,
Hoover,
Q and Not U,
Crash Course in Science,
Brick,
Buzzcocks,
Panda Bear,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Selecter,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Pole,
Max Romeo,
Make Up,
Scott Walker,
Aswad,
the Slits,
Monks,
Graham Central Station,
Archie Shepp,
Television,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Black Moon,
Nick Fraelich,
Saccharine Trust,
Piero Umiliani,
DJ Sneak,
Can,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Dual Sessions,
Franke,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Marmalade,
Terry Callier,
John Lydon,
Fela Kuti,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.