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 Comoros and from Spokane.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the theremin 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 Altered Images to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Bronski Beat. All the underground hits.
All Althea and Donna tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arthur Verocai record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
Roy Ayers,
Jerry's Kids,
Radiopuhelimet,
Swans,
The Skatalites,
Minutemen,
K-Klass,
Dark Day,
Robert Görl,
Smog,
Babytalk,
John Coltrane,
Trumans Water,
In Retrospect,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
JFA,
Girls At Our Best!,
Mantronix,
Rekid,
Aswad,
Sparks,
The Gladiators,
Lalann,
Lungfish,
The Sonics,
Brand Nubian,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Wire,
Nirvana,
Donny Hathaway,
Eli Mardock,
Bill Near,
This Heat,
Kevin Saunderson,
DJ Sneak,
Public Image Ltd.,
Lyres,
Ponytail,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Birthday Party,
Connie Case,
David McCallum,
Tomorrow,
The Music Machine,
Livin' Joy,
The Seeds,
Sällskapet,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sight & Sound,
Bluetip,
The Smoke,
Echospace,
Siglo XX,
The Beau Brummels,
Stetsasonic,
KRS-One,
Masters at Work,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Soul II Soul,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.