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 Denmark and from Calgary.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Boz Scaggs to the techno 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 Index. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Outsiders,
These Immortal Souls,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Skatalites,
Cheater Slicks,
Bush Tetras,
Kenny Larkin,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The American Breed,
Roger Hodgson,
Lalo Schifrin,
Glenn Branca,
Crash Course in Science,
Isaac Hayes,
Eve St. Jones,
Unrelated Segments,
Gang Starr,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Black Dice,
Delta 5,
David Axelrod,
Sällskapet,
the Slits,
Warren Ellis,
Lindisfarne,
Leonard Cohen,
Ice-T,
Hot Snakes,
The Doors,
Ronan,
Funky Four + One,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Soft Cell,
Lou Reed,
Siglo XX,
Black Sheep,
Jimmy McGriff,
the Fania All-Stars,
Severed Heads,
Wally Richardson,
Royal Trux,
L. Decosne,
KRS-One,
Popol Vuh,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Sonics,
D'Angelo,
Barrington Levy,
Technova,
Prince Buster,
Lucky Dragons,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Pet Shop Boys,
Intrusion,
the Association,
Donny Hathaway,
Amon Düül II,
The Trojans,
Toni Rubio,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Buckinghams,
Pantaleimon,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.