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 Thailand and from Toronto.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mumbai.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Tubeway Army 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 Eric Copeland. All the underground hits.
All Stockholm Monsters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June Days record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Index,
Ultra Naté,
Donny Hathaway,
Pulsallama,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Smiths,
Sun City Girls,
Fear,
the Association,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Todd Rundgren,
Spandau Ballet,
T.S.O.L.,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pere Ubu,
Black Bananas,
Rufus Thomas,
Zapp,
R.M.O.,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Dave Clark Five,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Heaven 17,
Eric Dolphy,
Graham Central Station,
Lucky Dragons,
Joyce Sims,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Silicon Teens,
Gang Starr,
Joe Smooth,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Sex Pistols,
Isaac Hayes,
Whodini,
Dead Boys,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Public Enemy,
Sam Rivers,
Toni Rubio,
Aural Exciters,
Unrelated Segments,
CMW,
The Five Americans,
Marcia Griffiths,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Oneida,
The Young Rascals,
Judy Mowatt,
Matthew Bourne,
Josef K,
KRS-One,
Colin Newman,
Grauzone,
Infiniti,
Glambeats Corp.,
kango's stein massive,
Motorama,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.