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 Sweden and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 arpeggiator 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 Terry Callier to the crunk 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 The Golliwogs. All the underground hits.
All The Litter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gastr Del Sol record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun City Girls,
Warsaw,
Gichy Dan,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Severed Heads,
Rhythm & Sound,
Isaac Hayes,
Kurtis Blow,
Gerry Rafferty,
Graham Central Station,
Howard Jones,
Accadde A,
Barbara Tucker,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Alton Ellis,
The Gun Club,
Anakelly,
Fatback Band,
the Slits,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Roxy Music,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
T.S.O.L.,
Talk Talk,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Fortunes,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Inner City,
Monks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ituana,
The Durutti Column,
Fluxion,
Hasil Adkins,
Vainqueur,
The Searchers,
Aswad,
Eurythmics,
the Soft Cell,
Cheater Slicks,
Andrew Hill,
Marine Girls,
New York Dolls,
Amon Düül,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Prince Buster,
Judy Mowatt,
Matthew Halsall,
Kerri Chandler,
Gang Gang Dance,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Beau Brummels,
Jandek,
In Retrospect,
R.M.O.,
The Kinks,
Susan Cadogan,
Yazoo,
Saccharine Trust,
The Zeros,
Royal Trux,
The Monks, The Monks, The Monks, The Monks.
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.