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 Antigua and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Franke to the dance 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 Scott Walker. All the underground hits.
All Arthur Verocai tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zapp record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlback record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
June Days,
Eric Copeland,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lyres,
Gang Green,
The Walker Brothers,
Los Fastidios,
Oblivians,
Tres Demented,
Khruangbin,
Pole,
Ken Boothe,
Subhumans,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fugazi,
Warren Ellis,
Ohio Players,
Rites of Spring,
Young Marble Giants,
Rakim,
The Five Americans,
A Certain Ratio,
MC5,
Mad Mike,
Tim Buckley,
the Sonics,
Boz Scaggs,
Nico,
Chris Corsano,
Roy Ayers,
Public Image Ltd.,
New Order,
Symarip,
Neu!,
Banda Bassotti,
Wally Richardson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alton Ellis,
Skarface,
Chris & Cosey,
Pagans,
Bush Tetras,
The Fortunes,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
LL Cool J,
Cal Tjader,
Sight & Sound,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
the Association,
The Shadows of Knight,
Kool Moe Dee,
Terrestrial Tones,
Brothers Johnson,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
B.T. Express,
Roxy Music,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.