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 South Sudan and from Houston.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 marimba 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 Big Daddy Kane to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oppenheimer Analysis 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tom Boy,
Kayak,
Franke,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Lyres,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Remains,
Cluster,
Bronski Beat,
Leonard Cohen,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sarah Menescal,
Boredoms,
The Blackbyrds,
Rapeman,
Joe Smooth,
Electric Prunes,
Aloha Tigers,
Ultra Naté,
The Skatalites,
Amon Düül II,
Mad Mike,
Radiohead,
Sam Rivers,
Ken Boothe,
Zapp,
Index,
The Last Poets,
New Order,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Tubeway Army,
Kool Moe Dee,
Talk Talk,
Aswad,
The Durutti Column,
Lakeside,
Ten City,
Jandek,
Adolescents,
The American Breed,
The Flesh Eaters,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Camberwell Now,
Howard Jones,
Jacob Miller,
the Human League,
Motorama,
Barbara Tucker,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Stereo Dub,
Barclay James Harvest,
Henry Cow,
Radio Birdman,
ABC,
E-Dancer,
Deadbeat,
Arab on Radar,
Jawbox,
Roxy Music, Roxy Music, Roxy Music, Roxy Music.
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.