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 Barbados and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Spokane.
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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Funky Four + One to the jazz 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 The Busters. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Y Pants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
La Düsseldorf,
Soul II Soul,
Dead Boys,
The Trojans,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Misunderstood,
Terry Callier,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Siglo XX,
Boredoms,
Ultra Naté,
Aaron Thompson,
Harry Pussy,
Lindisfarne,
The Martian,
Neil Young,
Throbbing Gristle,
Max Romeo,
Mission of Burma,
June Days,
Wire,
Hasil Adkins,
Davy DMX,
Deadbeat,
Rosa Yemen,
Blossom Toes,
Sonny Sharrock,
Nirvana,
Banda Bassotti,
Pharoah Sanders,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Zeros,
Cybotron,
Mary Jane Girls,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Morten Harket,
Ohio Players,
Bobby Byrd,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Schoolly D,
The Selecter,
DJ Style,
Grey Daturas,
T.S.O.L.,
Josef K,
Heaven 17,
Brothers Johnson,
Gichy Dan,
Oneida,
Jeff Lynne,
Procol Harum,
Rites of Spring,
Country Teasers,
Lightning Bolt,
X-101,
Leonard Cohen,
Freddie Wadling,
Joensuu 1685,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.