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 Vanuatu and from Madrid.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the 808 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 Laurel Aitken to the grime 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 Average White Band. All the underground hits.
All Rapeman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Music Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultravox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Jerry's Kids,
Bill Near,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
AZ,
Sound Behaviour,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lee Hazlewood,
Cymande,
Cameo,
Spoonie Gee,
Monolake,
The Move,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Stetsasonic,
T. Rex,
Jacob Miller,
Marshall Jefferson,
Popol Vuh,
Rotary Connection,
Barrington Levy,
Eden Ahbez,
Robert Wyatt,
Mars,
Carl Craig,
Lou Christie,
Flash Fearless,
Negative Approach,
Moby Grape,
The Fall,
Public Image Ltd.,
Funky Four + One,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Kurtis Blow,
Swans,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
LL Cool J,
The Residents,
Tears for Fears,
Bluetip,
DNA,
Marvin Gaye,
Sight & Sound,
Lucky Dragons,
Girls At Our Best!,
Little Man,
Mantronix,
Reuben Wilson,
Basic Channel,
Derrick Morgan,
The Smoke,
The Slits,
Glambeats Corp.,
Prince Buster,
Theoretical Girls,
The Monochrome Set,
Patti Smith,
New Order,
Freddie Wadling,
Joey Negro,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Litter, The Litter, The Litter, The Litter.
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.