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 Mauritius 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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the güiro 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 The Human League to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Half Japanese. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masters at Work record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Colin Newman,
Ultimate Spinach,
Guru Guru,
Hot Snakes,
Pharoah Sanders,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Fatback Band,
The Invisible,
Funky Four + One,
Rosa Yemen,
Johnny Clarke,
John Foxx,
Rufus Thomas,
Fugazi,
Lou Reed,
Circle Jerks,
Bluetip,
Sarah Menescal,
The Tremeloes,
Television Personalities,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gil Scott Heron,
Fela Kuti,
Matthew Bourne,
Radio Birdman,
The Beau Brummels,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Dorothy Ashby,
Buzzcocks,
Blake Baxter,
Robert Görl,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Masters at Work,
Deepchord,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Rites of Spring,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Wake,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bobby Byrd,
John Cale,
X-101,
Porter Ricks,
Judy Mowatt,
Roxette,
The Slackers,
Pantytec,
Ituana,
A Certain Ratio,
Davy DMX,
Outsiders,
The Raincoats,
the Bar-Kays,
The Selecter,
Toni Rubio,
Iggy Pop,
Barry Ungar,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lyres,
Mary Jane Girls,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.