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 Bahamas and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 D'Angelo to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Tubeway Army,
Erykah Badu,
Johnny Clarke,
the Germs,
Arthur Verocai,
Bluetip,
In Retrospect,
X-Ray Spex,
Tim Buckley,
Crash Course in Science,
Intrusion,
Thee Headcoats,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Blossom Toes,
Japan,
Essential Logic,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Leonard Cohen,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Eli Mardock,
K-Klass,
Jeff Mills,
Minutemen,
Au Pairs,
Archie Shepp,
Freddie Wadling,
The J.B.'s,
The Offenders,
Unrelated Segments,
Eric Dolphy,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Blues Magoos,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Interpol,
Inner City,
Moss Icon,
Aloha Tigers,
Henry Cow,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Yazoo,
Juan Atkins,
Quando Quango,
Arab on Radar,
Nick Fraelich,
Metal Thangz,
New Order,
the Slits,
Bad Manners,
The Neon Judgement,
Soft Machine,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Faraquet,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Index,
Alice Coltrane,
Scott Walker,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.