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 Tajikistan and from London.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 OOIOO to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Eurythmics. All the underground hits.
All Hot Snakes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liliput record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Au Pairs,
Scrapy,
The Toasters,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Tres Demented,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
Alphaville,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Vladislav Delay,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Brass Construction,
Pet Shop Boys,
Brick,
Glenn Branca,
Scott Walker,
Marvin Gaye,
Q65,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Technova,
Mission of Burma,
Spoonie Gee,
Jesper Dahlback,
Bad Manners,
Visage,
John Coltrane,
Niagra,
Magma,
Minnie Riperton,
Charles Mingus,
Blossom Toes,
Cal Tjader,
Infiniti,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Sparks,
Morten Harket,
The Blues Magoos,
Qualms,
Mary Jane Girls,
Tears for Fears,
Scratch Acid,
Nico,
the Soft Cell,
Bill Wells,
Janne Schatter,
Nik Kershaw,
CMW,
Gerry Rafferty,
Sam Rivers,
Judy Mowatt,
Depeche Mode,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Das Ding,
Con Funk Shun,
Eurythmics,
Trumans Water,
Schoolly D,
Skarface,
Ludus,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.