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 Estonia and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Joey Negro to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Goldenarms. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Smog record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
ABBA,
Cymande,
Man Eating Sloth,
Gregory Isaacs,
Guru Guru,
The Slits,
Ken Boothe,
48th St. Collective,
John Coltrane,
Qualms,
AZ,
Eve St. Jones,
The Monks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Joyce Sims,
Yaz,
The Black Dice,
Barry Ungar,
Visage,
The Names,
Bob Dylan,
This Heat,
Marc Almond,
The Standells,
Reuben Wilson,
the Association,
Public Enemy,
The Modern Lovers,
Roxy Music,
Excepter,
Groovy Waters,
Pussy Galore,
Technova,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Susan Cadogan,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Vogues,
Absolute Body Control,
Con Funk Shun,
Lou Reed,
Model 500,
Matthew Bourne,
Hot Snakes,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Cecil Taylor,
Chris Corsano,
Cal Tjader,
R.M.O.,
Joey Negro,
Mandrill,
Stiv Bators,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Archie Shepp,
Little Man,
Loose Ends,
Parry Music,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Marine Girls,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.