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 Turkmenistan and from Houston.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Circle Jerks to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Strawberry Alarm Clock. All the underground hits.
All The Invisible tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sexual Harrassment 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Hutcherson,
Spandau Ballet,
Fatback Band,
Visage,
James White and The Blacks,
Nils Olav,
Lakeside,
Hasil Adkins,
MDC,
L. Decosne,
Sunsets and Hearts,
PIL,
Hardrive,
Delon & Dalcan,
Spoonie Gee,
Amon Düül,
Leonard Cohen,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Zeros,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Dark Day,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pulsallama,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Hot Snakes,
Black Pus,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Pop Group,
Reagan Youth,
Quando Quango,
Pylon,
Bluetip,
Aural Exciters,
Rites of Spring,
Tres Demented,
These Immortal Souls,
Jawbox,
Roy Ayers,
Lalo Schifrin,
Public Enemy,
Suburban Knight,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Germs,
Cymande,
Bronski Beat,
Jacob Miller,
Los Fastidios,
Pere Ubu,
Aaron Thompson,
Jeff Mills,
cv313,
Peter & Gordon,
Charles Mingus,
Robert Wyatt,
Jeru the Damaja,
Brothers Johnson,
Ultra Naté,
The Kinks,
Soft Cell,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.