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 Netherlands and from Calgary.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 marimba 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 Bad Manners to the disco 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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All The Names tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fort Wilson Riot record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
Alice Coltrane,
The Offenders,
Minny Pops,
CMW,
Pylon,
The Walker Brothers,
Barry Ungar,
Sister Nancy,
Ken Boothe,
Eric B and Rakim,
10cc,
Rufus Thomas,
The Stooges,
Arcadia,
David Axelrod,
The Invisible,
The Remains,
Frankie Knuckles,
Buzzcocks,
Unwound,
Kayak,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Camouflage,
Lindisfarne,
Soulsonic Force,
John Coltrane,
The Techniques,
E-Dancer,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Deepchord,
Joyce Sims,
The Gun Club,
Sandy B,
The Fugs,
Japan,
Minnie Riperton,
The Selecter,
Circle Jerks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bluetip,
Franke,
Eve St. Jones,
Josef K,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Duran Duran,
Fat Boys,
Lucky Dragons,
Black Sheep,
Aaron Thompson,
Ludus,
The Misunderstood,
Main Source,
Althea and Donna,
Echospace,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Toasters,
Basic Channel,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.