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 Suriname and from Beijing.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sparks to the crunk 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 The Saints. All the underground hits.
All Flamin' Groovies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Frankie Knuckles record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Quando Quango,
Judy Mowatt,
Tom Boy,
MDC,
Bobby Womack,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Eden Ahbez,
Harpers Bizarre,
Byron Stingily,
Dead Boys,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Faust,
Morten Harket,
Vainqueur,
Clear Light,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Germs,
Accadde A,
Maleditus Sound,
Duran Duran,
Pharoah Sanders,
Matthew Halsall,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sound Behaviour,
The United States of America,
Mandrill,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scott Walker,
The Doors,
Lyres,
Electric Prunes,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Tropical Tobacco,
Soul II Soul,
The Remains,
Lindisfarne,
H. Thieme,
The Young Rascals,
Simply Red,
Peter and Kerry,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rapeman,
The Knickerbockers,
Thee Headcoats,
Barry Ungar,
Junior Murvin,
Can,
Black Sheep,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Japan,
The Seeds,
Animal Collective,
Cabaret Voltaire,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ronan,
Rufus Thomas,
Swell Maps,
Tears for Fears,
Excepter,
Tim Buckley,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.