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 Woodstock.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
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 Sandy B to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Arcadia. All the underground hits.
All Eden Ahbez tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalo Schifrin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
The Gladiators,
Idris Muhammad,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ultra Naté,
The Kinks,
Dead Boys,
Lalo Schifrin,
Magma,
Drexciya,
The Fortunes,
Wire,
E-Dancer,
Lou Christie,
Nick Fraelich,
Kevin Saunderson,
Swell Maps,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Liliput,
Roger Hodgson,
Marine Girls,
The Moody Blues,
Pantaleimon,
Fugazi,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Roxy Music,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bluetip,
The J.B.'s,
Peter & Gordon,
Suburban Knight,
Marc Almond,
Boz Scaggs,
AZ,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Cameo,
Tres Demented,
The Young Rascals,
X-Ray Spex,
Don Cherry,
Yaz,
Das Ding,
The Fire Engines,
Scan 7,
The Saints,
Deakin,
Rites of Spring,
Josef K,
Kaleidoscope,
Lakeside,
World's Most,
Cluster,
The Litter,
Gabor Szabo,
Jimmy McGriff,
June Days, June Days, June Days, June Days.
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.