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 Paraguay and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Scion to the rap 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All The Offenders tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
The Misunderstood,
David Axelrod,
Curtis Mayfield,
the Swans,
Minnie Riperton,
The Slits,
Marshall Jefferson,
Metal Thangz,
Barclay James Harvest,
Rufus Thomas,
Glenn Branca,
Tears for Fears,
Kas Product,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Marvin Gaye,
The Names,
D'Angelo,
Lou Reed,
Pole,
Pulsallama,
Pantytec,
Matthew Halsall,
Severed Heads,
The Cowsills,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Electric Prunes,
The Selecter,
Inner City,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bobbi Humphrey,
E-Dancer,
DNA,
The Litter,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Visage,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jeff Lynne,
Second Layer,
Prince Buster,
Sight & Sound,
Audionom,
Rapeman,
Barbara Tucker,
Deepchord,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Aswad,
Peter and Kerry,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
PIL,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Toni Rubio,
Warsaw,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Stooges,
Bang On A Can,
Marcia Griffiths,
This Heat,
Sound Behaviour,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.