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 Eritrea and from Philadelphia.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 chamberlin 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the electroclash 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 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. All the underground hits.
All Mission of Burma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
The Misunderstood,
The Young Rascals,
Delta 5,
Unwound,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Popol Vuh,
Dennis Brown,
Trumans Water,
Barclay James Harvest,
Excepter,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Steve Hackett,
Scott Walker,
Alton Ellis,
Lalann,
Aswad,
Josef K,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Simply Red,
EPMD,
Jeru the Damaja,
Eric Copeland,
Severed Heads,
The Cramps,
Barbara Tucker,
Jimmy McGriff,
Fugazi,
Ponytail,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
E-Dancer,
Carl Craig,
Bang On A Can,
Jacob Miller,
Toni Rubio,
The Durutti Column,
Fatback Band,
Nick Fraelich,
Connie Case,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Skatalites,
the Swans,
Soulsonic Force,
Grandmaster Flash,
T. Rex,
Gabor Szabo,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sexual Harrassment,
Glenn Branca,
Amazonics,
Babytalk,
Second Layer,
Bauhaus,
Parry Music,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Smiths,
The Smoke,
Janne Schatter,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Index,
Q and Not U,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.