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 Uganda and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 organ 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 Alton Ellis to the punk 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 Connie Case. All the underground hits.
All Mission of Burma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Josef K record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aswad,
Robert Wyatt,
Anakelly,
Bill Near,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pantytec,
The Grass Roots,
Mad Mike,
Swell Maps,
Scientists,
The Star Department,
Avey Tare,
Bobby Byrd,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Thee Headcoats,
Girls At Our Best!,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Carl Craig,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Fad Gadget,
Gang Green,
8 Eyed Spy,
Joe Smooth,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Kenny Larkin,
Ken Boothe,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Doobie Brothers,
Model 500,
Brothers Johnson,
Trumans Water,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eli Mardock,
L. Decosne,
Kevin Saunderson,
Amazonics,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Fania All-Stars,
Black Bananas,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Ice-T,
Average White Band,
Loose Ends,
Harry Pussy,
Scrapy,
Circle Jerks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Wasted Youth,
Susan Cadogan,
The Fugs,
Roxy Music,
Judy Mowatt,
Supertramp,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sister Nancy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Swans,
Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs, Au Pairs.
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.