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 Uzbekistan and from Copenhagen.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Piero Umiliani 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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All The Moleskins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Durutti Column 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Von Mondo,
Kenny Larkin,
The Red Krayola,
Buzzcocks,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Andrew Hill,
Glenn Branca,
Lucky Dragons,
Surgeon,
Avey Tare,
Junior Murvin,
Warren Ellis,
Sam Rivers,
Rekid,
The Modern Lovers,
Country Teasers,
Crime,
Minor Threat,
Ken Boothe,
MDC,
Kevin Saunderson,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Pussy Galore,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Quantec,
the Normal,
Gang of Four,
Absolute Body Control,
Throbbing Gristle,
Cluster,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Qualms,
Matthew Halsall,
Jesper Dahlback,
Shuggie Otis,
The Sound,
a-ha,
Cecil Taylor,
Average White Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Invisible,
Scion,
Steve Hackett,
Joey Negro,
Lee Hazlewood,
Barrington Levy,
Juan Atkins,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Terry Callier,
Minutemen,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Bar-Kays,
Mission of Burma,
Michelle Simonal,
The Mojo Men,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Severed Heads,
Mars,
Smog,
Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented.
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.