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 Djibouti and from Manchester.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Mars to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All Warsaw tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Wake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
The Associates,
Harpers Bizarre,
Arab on Radar,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Grandmaster Flash,
Desert Stars,
Masters at Work,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Buckinghams,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Hasil Adkins,
Amazonics,
Faust,
Circle Jerks,
China Crisis,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Royal Trux,
Qualms,
Flipper,
Excepter,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Audionom,
Rufus Thomas,
Piero Umiliani,
The Sound,
Interpol,
Camberwell Now,
Jacques Brel,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Fall,
Brass Construction,
The Selecter,
Bang On A Can,
Ken Boothe,
The Young Rascals,
Blake Baxter,
Johnny Clarke,
Essential Logic,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Ronnie Foster,
Cameo,
The Names,
La Düsseldorf,
June of 44,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Archie Shepp,
Siglo XX,
U.S. Maple,
Kaleidoscope,
Bad Manners,
D'Angelo,
The Walker Brothers,
the Slits,
The Monochrome Set,
Niagra,
Donald Byrd,
Model 500,
Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T.
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.