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 Togo and from Accra.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 clarinet 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 Deepchord to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Jacob Miller 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 jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Zapp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Evens,
Rosa Yemen,
Mission of Burma,
Colin Newman,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Black Moon,
Bauhaus,
Zero Boys,
Gichy Dan,
Grandmaster Flash,
Groovy Waters,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
R.M.O.,
Glambeats Corp.,
Lou Reed,
Brand Nubian,
OOIOO,
Gang Gang Dance,
Faraquet,
Audionom,
Soft Cell,
Flipper,
Kurtis Blow,
Stiv Bators,
Patti Smith,
Morten Harket,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Pole,
Yazoo,
Bang On A Can,
K-Klass,
Goldenarms,
London Community Gospel Choir,
ABC,
Chris & Cosey,
Crispian St. Peters,
Supertramp,
Charles Mingus,
Pantaleimon,
Guru Guru,
MDC,
Little Man,
Anthony Braxton,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Iggy Pop,
The Fugs,
The Cure,
E-Dancer,
Agitation Free,
Country Teasers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Chris Corsano,
In Retrospect,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Outsiders,
Eurythmics,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
China Crisis,
Robert Görl,
Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry.
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.