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 Chad and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 808 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 Avey Tare to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gladiators record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Chris & Cosey,
Blancmange,
A Certain Ratio,
Nik Kershaw,
Zero Boys,
Thompson Twins,
Vladislav Delay,
The Remains,
Jeff Mills,
Bobby Hutcherson,
the Swans,
John Coltrane,
The Velvet Underground,
Kurtis Blow,
The Monks,
The Beau Brummels,
The Victims,
Tom Boy,
Erasure,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Searchers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Pierre Henry,
Young Marble Giants,
The Dirtbombs,
CMW,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Mantronix,
Gerry Rafferty,
Joe Smooth,
Slave,
Negative Approach,
Mad Mike,
Pylon,
The Buckinghams,
Ponytail,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Techniques,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Minnie Riperton,
The Barracudas,
The Offenders,
U.S. Maple,
Brass Construction,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Mark Hollis,
The Fugs,
the Slits,
Lindisfarne,
Glambeats Corp.,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kool Moe Dee,
MDC,
Crooked Eye,
The Martian,
Gichy Dan,
Trumans Water,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Mummies,
Panda Bear,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.