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 Zambia and from Stockholm.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 808 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 Wolf Eyes to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Angels of Light. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cybotron 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roxette record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
UT,
Brand Nubian,
Can,
The Gladiators,
Bang On A Can,
D'Angelo,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
X-102,
Soul II Soul,
Newcleus,
The Walker Brothers,
World's Most,
Piero Umiliani,
Black Flag,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Star Department,
KRS-One,
Kerri Chandler,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Pylon,
Kas Product,
Lalann,
The Pretty Things,
Howard Jones,
the Soft Cell,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Big Daddy Kane,
Leonard Cohen,
Alton Ellis,
Quadrant,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Agitation Free,
Qualms,
Warren Ellis,
Inner City,
Swell Maps,
Negative Approach,
Robert Wyatt,
The Litter,
Ten City,
Yellowson,
The Wake,
Moebius,
Byron Stingily,
Nils Olav,
Minny Pops,
Gastr Del Sol,
Q and Not U,
Patti Smith,
Jeff Lynne,
AZ,
Loose Ends,
Young Marble Giants,
Gil Scott Heron,
Scrapy,
DJ Style,
Erasure,
Faraquet,
Ossler,
Roy Ayers,
Pagans,
Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec, Pantytec.
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.