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 Iraq and from Mexico City.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 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 Don Cherry to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerri Chandler 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Richard Hell and the Voidoids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lungfish,
Amon Düül II,
Ituana,
Neil Young,
Mandrill,
Bootsy Collins,
Jerry's Kids,
Dave Gahan,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
La Düsseldorf,
Blake Baxter,
Tim Buckley,
Eurythmics,
The Grass Roots,
Popol Vuh,
Subhumans,
Sixth Finger,
Jesper Dahlback,
Urselle,
Fugazi,
Jimmy McGriff,
Goldenarms,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bluetip,
Dawn Penn,
Gabor Szabo,
a-ha,
Ludus,
Archie Shepp,
Pere Ubu,
June of 44,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Gladiators,
Blancmange,
Byron Stingily,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
E-Dancer,
Rakim,
Juan Atkins,
Bob Dylan,
Loose Ends,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Don Cherry,
The Five Americans,
Minutemen,
Peter & Gordon,
The Kinks,
The Skatalites,
Visage,
Frankie Knuckles,
the Sonics,
Scion,
H. Thieme,
Bill Wells,
Radiohead,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jandek,
Essential Logic,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers, Roy Ayers.
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.