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 Winnipeg.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Slackers to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Groovy Waters. All the underground hits.
All X-101 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
UT,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Blues Magoos,
The Associates,
Lalann,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Pylon,
Wire,
Bluetip,
Marmalade,
Monolake,
Graham Central Station,
Josef K,
Tubeway Army,
Davy DMX,
The Seeds,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Animal Collective,
Mars,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Intrusion,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eurythmics,
Ronnie Foster,
Ash Ra Tempel,
David Bowie,
Vladislav Delay,
Roger Hodgson,
Mission of Burma,
Black Moon,
Sonic Youth,
The Monks,
Fatback Band,
Model 500,
Eden Ahbez,
Electric Prunes,
Vainqueur,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
In Retrospect,
Eli Mardock,
Deadbeat,
Godley & Creme,
Magazine,
The Barracudas,
Curtis Mayfield,
Desert Stars,
John Coltrane,
Ultra Naté,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Durutti Column,
Rhythm & Sound,
David Axelrod,
Delta 5,
Danielle Patucci,
Inner City,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Normal,
The Modern Lovers,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.