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 Haiti and from London.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Calgary.
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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 KRS-One. All the underground hits.
All Talk Talk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party 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?
Subhumans,
Hashim,
Pharoah Sanders,
Goldenarms,
Reagan Youth,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Scientists,
Electric Prunes,
The Modern Lovers,
Blake Baxter,
CMW,
Derrick Morgan,
Eurythmics,
The Birthday Party,
Schoolly D,
K-Klass,
Monks,
Throbbing Gristle,
The J.B.'s,
Underground Resistance,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Funky Four + One,
Jesper Dahlback,
Be Bop Deluxe,
New York Dolls,
Popol Vuh,
Henry Cow,
Severed Heads,
Con Funk Shun,
Sexual Harrassment,
the Germs,
Shuggie Otis,
Funkadelic,
Roxette,
Saccharine Trust,
Make Up,
The Motions,
Leonard Cohen,
Pole,
10cc,
Steve Hackett,
Hasil Adkins,
Hot Snakes,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Buzzcocks,
Tomorrow,
Tommy Roe,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Gun Club,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gabor Szabo,
Roger Hodgson,
Letta Mbulu,
The Five Americans,
Crispy Ambulance,
Nick Fraelich,
Bluetip,
Donny Hathaway,
Josef K,
Pagans,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.