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 Malta and from Lagos.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the linndrum 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 The Zeros to the dance 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 The Techniques. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liliput 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Peanut Butter Conspiracy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Swans,
The Young Rascals,
Oneida,
Swell Maps,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Funkadelic,
The Offenders,
Robert Wyatt,
Bad Manners,
Gastr Del Sol,
Danielle Patucci,
Cal Tjader,
Albert Ayler,
Chris & Cosey,
Crooked Eye,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
CMW,
Yusef Lateef,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Fugs,
Trumans Water,
James Chance & The Contortions,
48th St. Collective,
The Kinks,
Eric Dolphy,
Man Eating Sloth,
Procol Harum,
Depeche Mode,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Silicon Teens,
Matthew Bourne,
Angry Samoans,
Au Pairs,
Barbara Tucker,
Blake Baxter,
Gang Starr,
The Count Five,
Kerrie Biddell,
D'Angelo,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Smiths,
The Electric Prunes,
New Age Steppers,
Morten Harket,
Deakin,
Negative Approach,
The Slackers,
Spandau Ballet,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Aloha Tigers,
The Martian,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Quantec,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
A Certain Ratio,
Deadbeat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.