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 Marshall Islands and from Lagos.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band to the techno 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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All Laurel Aitken tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aaron Thompson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Dual Sessions,
Dorothy Ashby,
Prince Buster,
June Days,
Mark Hollis,
Boogie Down Productions,
Terrestrial Tones,
Josef K,
X-101,
Unrelated Segments,
Bauhaus,
The Slits,
Tomorrow,
Sixth Finger,
Leonard Cohen,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Babytalk,
Jacques Brel,
The Skatalites,
Q and Not U,
Rufus Thomas,
Cheater Slicks,
The Busters,
Bizarre Inc.,
the Bar-Kays,
Marcia Griffiths,
L. Decosne,
Schoolly D,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Tres Demented,
One Last Wish,
The Neon Judgement,
Mary Jane Girls,
Surgeon,
JFA,
The Trojans,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Gerry Rafferty,
This Heat,
The Monochrome Set,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Swell Maps,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Scan 7,
cv313,
Pussy Galore,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Blake Baxter,
The Dirtbombs,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Seeds,
Liliput,
Section 25,
Eli Mardock,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Vainqueur,
Audionom,
Rhythm & Sound,
Juan Atkins,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
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.