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 Lebanon and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 Tokyo and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Angry Samoans to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Fortunes. All the underground hits.
All The Invisible tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crooked Eye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Alarm Clocks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Byrd,
the Association,
Susan Cadogan,
Jeff Mills,
The Saints,
Boredoms,
Grandmaster Flash,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
U.S. Maple,
Lebanon Hanover,
Duran Duran,
Warsaw,
Jerry's Kids,
The Fugs,
Nas,
The Monks,
Brick,
Theoretical Girls,
The Vogues,
Inner City,
Delta 5,
Wasted Youth,
David Axelrod,
Ronnie Foster,
Country Teasers,
Essential Logic,
Unrelated Segments,
Faust,
the Germs,
Eric Dolphy,
Icehouse,
Stereo Dub,
Aloha Tigers,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Jacques Brel,
Amazonics,
Howard Jones,
Gang Starr,
Aaron Thompson,
Echospace,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Funkadelic,
Idris Muhammad,
H. Thieme,
Letta Mbulu,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gastr Del Sol,
Joy Division,
Pulsallama,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Rufus Thomas,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Mandrill,
Bronski Beat,
China Crisis,
Pylon,
Laurel Aitken,
KRS-One,
Alice Coltrane,
The Martian,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.