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 Guinea-Bissau and from Mumbai.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 rhodes 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 Terrestrial Tones to the grime 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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Mark Hollis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Con Funk Shun,
Popol Vuh,
the Association,
Sixth Finger,
Jesper Dahlback,
Oneida,
Sex Pistols,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Terry Callier,
Peter and Kerry,
Lindisfarne,
Sparks,
X-Ray Spex,
Stetsasonic,
Pantytec,
Curtis Mayfield,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
the Human League,
Ice-T,
Parry Music,
Throbbing Gristle,
ABC,
Scratch Acid,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sonny Sharrock,
Eve St. Jones,
Television,
Quantec,
Harmonia,
In Retrospect,
Sam Rivers,
Vladislav Delay,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Robert Hood,
Nik Kershaw,
Bluetip,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bauhaus,
John Coltrane,
Lalann,
The United States of America,
The Cowsills,
the Sonics,
Alison Limerick,
OOIOO,
Dave Gahan,
John Foxx,
Joensuu 1685,
Traffic Nightmare,
Silicon Teens,
Gil Scott Heron,
Magma,
Sugar Minott,
The Last Poets,
Little Man,
Khruangbin,
Henry Cow,
The Pretty Things,
Visage,
Mr. Review, Mr. Review, Mr. Review, Mr. Review.
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.