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 Nauru and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Columbus.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers 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 jazz 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 marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
The Pretty Things,
Mantronix,
Accadde A,
The Last Poets,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Boz Scaggs,
Kayak,
This Heat,
Rotary Connection,
Gerry Rafferty,
Buzzcocks,
Magma,
Massinfluence,
The Doobie Brothers,
DNA,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Idris Muhammad,
Pantytec,
Todd Rundgren,
The Misunderstood,
Swell Maps,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
John Cale,
Von Mondo,
Bang On A Can,
New York Dolls,
Leonard Cohen,
Rapeman,
The Count Five,
Interpol,
Mark Hollis,
Roger Hodgson,
Kerrie Biddell,
Absolute Body Control,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Organ,
Freddie Wadling,
The Gladiators,
Aloha Tigers,
Alison Limerick,
ABC,
The Gories,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Mummies,
Fugazi,
Sarah Menescal,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bush Tetras,
Derrick May,
X-Ray Spex,
Albert Ayler,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
the Soft Cell,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Niagra,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.