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 Spain and from Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar 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 Kurtis Blow to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Surgeon. All the underground hits.
All Joe Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barclay James Harvest record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharoah Sanders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Susan Cadogan,
Bob Dylan,
Derrick Morgan,
Alison Limerick,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Minor Threat,
Freddie Wadling,
The Monks,
Talk Talk,
Grauzone,
Nas,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Funky Four + One,
Deepchord,
The Gladiators,
Zero Boys,
Unwound,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sun City Girls,
Cecil Taylor,
The Count Five,
the Swans,
Ultimate Spinach,
Dual Sessions,
David Bowie,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Blossom Toes,
Sarah Menescal,
The Golliwogs,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
AZ,
Lebanon Hanover,
Marmalade,
Oblivians,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Doobie Brothers,
L. Decosne,
The United States of America,
Television Personalities,
Main Source,
The Grass Roots,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
CMW,
Stereo Dub,
R.M.O.,
Sandy B,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Mark Hollis,
Harry Pussy,
Laurel Aitken,
Cabaret Voltaire,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Camberwell Now,
Nik Kershaw,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Red Krayola,
Anakelly,
Banda Bassotti,
Roxette,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.