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 Paraguay and from Manila.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. All the underground hits.
All Amazonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
The Knickerbockers,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Radiopuhelimet,
Scrapy,
Lungfish,
Rakim,
The Evens,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Five Americans,
Davy DMX,
Surgeon,
Au Pairs,
The Cramps,
Kaleidoscope,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fugazi,
Wolf Eyes,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Roger Hodgson,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Icehouse,
The Red Krayola,
Rufus Thomas,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Fugs,
Agent Orange,
Public Image Ltd.,
Rod Modell,
Nas,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Stockholm Monsters,
Iggy Pop,
Barclay James Harvest,
John Lydon,
Andrew Hill,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sight & Sound,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Invisible,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Sun City Girls,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Barracudas,
The American Breed,
Electric Prunes,
Gang of Four,
Max Romeo,
Amazonics,
Michelle Simonal,
Spandau Ballet,
The Dave Clark Five,
Jeff Mills,
Maurizio,
The Wake,
Brass Construction,
Ronan,
The Slackers,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Hashim,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.