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 Taiwan and from Edmonton.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 48th St. Collective to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Pierre Henry. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erykah Badu 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Malaria! record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slits,
Harpers Bizarre,
Pharoah Sanders,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Doobie Brothers,
June of 44,
Dennis Brown,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
MC5,
Gregory Isaacs,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Clear Light,
Godley & Creme,
Hot Snakes,
Bootsy Collins,
Matthew Bourne,
Morten Harket,
The Barracudas,
The Shadows of Knight,
Todd Terry,
Amon Düül,
Ponytail,
Robert Görl,
The Doors,
The Tremeloes,
Soul II Soul,
Lungfish,
Rosa Yemen,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Faraquet,
Skaos,
Ralphi Rosario,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Cure,
Siglo XX,
Lalo Schifrin,
Fear,
Vainqueur,
Suburban Knight,
Fatback Band,
Susan Cadogan,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Dead Boys,
The Alarm Clocks,
Delta 5,
Circle Jerks,
Pussy Galore,
the Bar-Kays,
The Golliwogs,
Ice-T,
H. Thieme,
Ronnie Foster,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Andrew Hill,
Aswad,
Gastr Del Sol,
Spoonie Gee,
Mantronix,
Joey Negro,
The Residents,
D'Angelo,
Niagra, Niagra, Niagra, Niagra.
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.