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 Iraq and from Philadelphia.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 spring reverb 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 Susan Cadogan to the electroclash 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 Black Flag. All the underground hits.
All The Pop Group tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Prince Buster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Divine Comedy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marcia Griffiths,
Eli Mardock,
The Skatalites,
Monks,
The Fuzztones,
Dawn Penn,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Marmalade,
Alice Coltrane,
Sun City Girls,
Slick Rick,
John Holt,
Sixth Finger,
The Red Krayola,
Thompson Twins,
Outsiders,
Jesper Dahlback,
Pantaleimon,
Ludus,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Niagra,
Drexciya,
Robert Wyatt,
Nik Kershaw,
Pylon,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Oblivians,
This Heat,
The Kinks,
Ralphi Rosario,
the Swans,
Jeff Mills,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Marshall Jefferson,
D'Angelo,
Byron Stingily,
Wire,
Sam Rivers,
Subhumans,
Bill Wells,
E-Dancer,
John Coltrane,
Susan Cadogan,
The Selecter,
Jacques Brel,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pussy Galore,
Mo-Dettes,
Quantec,
The Birthday Party,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Jacob Miller,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Black Dice,
Trumans Water,
ABBA,
Alphaville,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Cure,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.