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 Syria and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 theremin 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the dance 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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Wasted Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hoover 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Fatback Band,
Big Daddy Kane,
Minutemen,
JFA,
U.S. Maple,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sex Pistols,
Con Funk Shun,
The Alarm Clocks,
Altered Images,
Alison Limerick,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bill Wells,
The Knickerbockers,
The Happenings,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Y Pants,
Subhumans,
Accadde A,
Eric B and Rakim,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Doobie Brothers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Monks,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Camouflage,
Drexciya,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Severed Heads,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Searchers,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Sight & Sound,
The Human League,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
World's Most,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Move,
Erykah Badu,
B.T. Express,
Massinfluence,
Don Cherry,
Fugazi,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lucky Dragons,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Archie Shepp,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Rhythm & Sound,
Bush Tetras,
Banda Bassotti,
Aswad,
Television,
Blake Baxter,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cal Tjader,
Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound.
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.