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 Burundi and from Philadelphia.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Delhi.
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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
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 Colin Newman to the punk 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 Quantec. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Henry Cow,
Eurythmics,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Main Source,
Skriet,
Jacob Miller,
The Music Machine,
Malaria!,
Throbbing Gristle,
John Cale,
Deepchord,
The Monochrome Set,
Minny Pops,
Johnny Clarke,
The Pretty Things,
Brothers Johnson,
Man Eating Sloth,
Aswad,
The Flesh Eaters,
Hasil Adkins,
Susan Cadogan,
One Last Wish,
This Heat,
Matthew Halsall,
Laurel Aitken,
The Star Department,
Funky Four + One,
Flash Fearless,
Inner City,
The Victims,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Happenings,
Sex Pistols,
Cheater Slicks,
Josef K,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ralphi Rosario,
Vladislav Delay,
John Foxx,
the Normal,
Icehouse,
Lightning Bolt,
Organ,
Ultravox,
Barrington Levy,
Warsaw,
Black Moon,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sixth Finger,
Amon Düül,
Anthony Braxton,
Lucky Dragons,
Funkadelic,
Grey Daturas,
Talk Talk,
Lee Hazlewood,
Infiniti,
The Sound,
Niagra, Niagra, Niagra, Niagra.
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.