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 Colombia and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 PIL to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rhythm & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
Joe Smooth,
New Order,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bang On A Can,
The Skatalites,
Parry Music,
Maurizio,
Y Pants,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Glenn Branca,
Das Ding,
Pierre Henry,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lee Hazlewood,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Moebius,
Robert Görl,
Scion,
Faust,
X-Ray Spex,
The Gories,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Absolute Body Control,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
David McCallum,
The Fugs,
Lucky Dragons,
Second Layer,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Don Cherry,
Flipper,
Chris Corsano,
Aural Exciters,
Archie Shepp,
The Tremeloes,
L. Decosne,
The Vogues,
Barry Ungar,
Nils Olav,
Suburban Knight,
Slave,
The Zeros,
Joensuu 1685,
Roger Hodgson,
Freddie Wadling,
Cheater Slicks,
The Motions,
Procol Harum,
Accadde A,
Joy Division,
Pulsallama,
The Gap Band,
Technova,
Pole,
The Trojans,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.