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 Bolivia and from Hong Kong.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 808 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 Dennis Brown to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Fania All-Stars 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sparks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Japan,
Grandmaster Flash,
Chris & Cosey,
Alison Limerick,
Young Marble Giants,
Peter and Kerry,
Althea and Donna,
Schoolly D,
JFA,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Brass Construction,
The Victims,
The Modern Lovers,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Toasters,
Q and Not U,
Man Eating Sloth,
Dennis Brown,
Urselle,
the Association,
Rapeman,
Hasil Adkins,
The Blues Magoos,
Chris Corsano,
Todd Rundgren,
Sällskapet,
K-Klass,
Tommy Roe,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
KRS-One,
Radio Birdman,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Busters,
Von Mondo,
Magazine,
Ultravox,
Fat Boys,
Isaac Hayes,
Fluxion,
Underground Resistance,
Lyres,
Matthew Halsall,
the Germs,
Sister Nancy,
Delta 5,
Flipper,
Pussy Galore,
Blossom Toes,
Echospace,
Terry Callier,
Sam Rivers,
Unrelated Segments,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Joey Negro,
Kool Moe Dee,
EPMD,
Matthew Bourne,
Alice Coltrane,
Television Personalities,
Smog,
Boz Scaggs,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.