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 Malawi and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Albert Ayler to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Jeff Mills. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every F. McDonald record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mo-Dettes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Mr. Review,
R.M.O.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Cymande,
The Happenings,
Suburban Knight,
In Retrospect,
Crooked Eye,
Donny Hathaway,
Cecil Taylor,
Scan 7,
Hardrive,
Lucky Dragons,
Drexciya,
New York Dolls,
Stereo Dub,
10cc,
48th St. Collective,
Country Teasers,
Susan Cadogan,
The Invisible,
The Monochrome Set,
Amon Düül,
Silicon Teens,
The Gladiators,
Junior Murvin,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Kurtis Blow,
Moby Grape,
EPMD,
Slave,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lindisfarne,
Tommy Roe,
Mandrill,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Groovy Waters,
The Raincoats,
The Remains,
Mo-Dettes,
Bush Tetras,
The Black Dice,
Duran Duran,
The Smoke,
ABBA,
The Sonics,
World's Most,
T. Rex,
Pylon,
Motorama,
Livin' Joy,
Trumans Water,
Kenny Larkin,
The Modern Lovers,
Bauhaus,
The Vogues,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Judy Mowatt,
Section 25,
Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan.
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.