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 Algeria and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 güiro 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 Television to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Robert Wyatt. All the underground hits.
All Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers Ubiquity record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unwound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
the Fania All-Stars,
Liliput,
The Smoke,
Aswad,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Minnie Riperton,
Spoonie Gee,
Cameo,
Dead Boys,
Average White Band,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Ornette Coleman,
Barclay James Harvest,
Crime,
Icehouse,
The Shadows of Knight,
Mary Jane Girls,
CMW,
Heaven 17,
Popol Vuh,
R.M.O.,
Bauhaus,
Young Marble Giants,
Isaac Hayes,
Scan 7,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Soulsonic Force,
Hoover,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Eve St. Jones,
the Human League,
The Walker Brothers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Drexciya,
Ralphi Rosario,
Nico,
Underground Resistance,
Chris & Cosey,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Cal Tjader,
KRS-One,
Camouflage,
D'Angelo,
Nirvana,
The Moleskins,
The Martian,
The Fugs,
Rites of Spring,
Can,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Erykah Badu,
Scratch Acid,
Gong,
the Slits,
Black Flag,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme.
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.