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 Palau and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 guitar 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 Flipper to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thompson Twins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Don Cherry,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sun Ra,
Nas,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Lightning Bolt,
Cheater Slicks,
Monolake,
Camouflage,
Das Ding,
Eddi Front,
Erasure,
F. McDonald,
Schoolly D,
Crooked Eye,
Aloha Tigers,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Modern Lovers,
The Golliwogs,
Nick Fraelich,
The Evens,
Boredoms,
MDC,
OOIOO,
Tres Demented,
Make Up,
Rekid,
Slick Rick,
Lyres,
Model 500,
Moby Grape,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Josef K,
Youth Brigade,
Patti Smith,
These Immortal Souls,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Colin Newman,
Stereo Dub,
The Moleskins,
Wasted Youth,
The Monks,
Ken Boothe,
Isaac Hayes,
Erykah Badu,
Al Stewart,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sam Rivers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Dawn Penn,
The Doors,
Pantaleimon,
Lalann,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pharoah Sanders,
Eurythmics,
The Motions,
The Gap Band,
Japan,
Bronski Beat,
E-Dancer,
Maleditus Sound,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.