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 Namibia and from Accra.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 arpeggiator 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 Curtis Mayfield to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gabor Szabo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
Alice Coltrane,
The Stooges,
The Techniques,
X-102,
Loose Ends,
Graham Central Station,
Negative Approach,
The Fall,
Sun Ra,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Kayak,
Harry Pussy,
Kenny Larkin,
Audionom,
Reuben Wilson,
New York Dolls,
Bronski Beat,
Crispy Ambulance,
Joe Finger,
Joe Smooth,
The Move,
the Normal,
Cheater Slicks,
Harpers Bizarre,
Pantaleimon,
Soft Machine,
Deadbeat,
Tears for Fears,
Marshall Jefferson,
James White and The Blacks,
Banda Bassotti,
Gil Scott Heron,
Gang of Four,
Derrick May,
Ludus,
Sam Rivers,
Masters at Work,
Buzzcocks,
Saccharine Trust,
The Human League,
Bill Wells,
The Sonics,
Moebius,
The Residents,
Dual Sessions,
The Walker Brothers,
Idris Muhammad,
Throbbing Gristle,
Charles Mingus,
Kool Moe Dee,
Duran Duran,
the Human League,
Sister Nancy,
Wasted Youth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Cymande,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Last Poets,
Judy Mowatt,
Boredoms,
H. Thieme,
Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun.
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.