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 Libya and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 güiro 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 Niagra to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All Larry & the Blue Notes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Foxx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a LL Cool J record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
the Bar-Kays,
Eric B and Rakim,
Eli Mardock,
Yaz,
The Pretty Things,
Audionom,
Rotary Connection,
Ronan,
The Fuzztones,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Black Bananas,
Mad Mike,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kenny Larkin,
X-Ray Spex,
Ralphi Rosario,
Connie Case,
Robert Hood,
Bill Near,
Quando Quango,
Excepter,
Metal Thangz,
Scrapy,
Accadde A,
Sällskapet,
Cybotron,
Jawbox,
Marshall Jefferson,
Buzzcocks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Hardrive,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Grauzone,
Faust,
The Modern Lovers,
Lightning Bolt,
Donald Byrd,
Moss Icon,
Banda Bassotti,
Soulsonic Force,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ponytail,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lalann,
Tim Buckley,
Iggy Pop,
Sister Nancy,
Gang Green,
The Last Poets,
Mr. Review,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Graham Central Station,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Althea and Donna,
Todd Rundgren,
The Moody Blues,
The Barracudas,
Jacob Miller,
Underground Resistance,
Alice Coltrane,
Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy, Barrington Levy.
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.