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 Vietnam and from Lagos.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gang Gang Dance to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slave 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlback record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Velvet Underground,
Big Daddy Kane,
Roxy Music,
the Slits,
Scott Walker,
Arcadia,
Bang On A Can,
Crooked Eye,
The Red Krayola,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Roger Hodgson,
Sandy B,
Suicide,
Pulsallama,
Neil Young,
Funkadelic,
Colin Newman,
Cal Tjader,
The Techniques,
Davy DMX,
Jeff Mills,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Soul II Soul,
Zero Boys,
The Pop Group,
T. Rex,
Pierre Henry,
Crispy Ambulance,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Associates,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
DJ Style,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Tremeloes,
Carl Craig,
Archie Shepp,
Procol Harum,
Slave,
Maurizio,
This Heat,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Jesper Dahlback,
Country Teasers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Thee Headcoats,
Chris & Cosey,
David Bowie,
John Lydon,
Wings,
Mark Hollis,
Eric Dolphy,
Rites of Spring,
Yusef Lateef,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Khruangbin,
Arab on Radar,
The Knickerbockers,
Mary Jane Girls,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.