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 Thailand and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 organ 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 The Standells to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All Kas Product tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ten City 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
Talk Talk,
Little Man,
Pere Ubu,
Jesper Dahlback,
Pagans,
Aaron Thompson,
the Fania All-Stars,
Motorama,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Misunderstood,
Ultra Naté,
Kaleidoscope,
Deakin,
The Modern Lovers,
Eli Mardock,
The Index,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Slits,
Eden Ahbez,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
48th St. Collective,
Soft Machine,
Nils Olav,
Barrington Levy,
The Zeros,
Schoolly D,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bootsy Collins,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Isaac Hayes,
Sun City Girls,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Evens,
Charles Mingus,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Remains,
X-102,
Nas,
Delon & Dalcan,
Black Bananas,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
New York Dolls,
The Litter,
Banda Bassotti,
Model 500,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sound Behaviour,
Mo-Dettes,
Fad Gadget,
Erykah Badu,
Excepter,
The Detroit Cobras,
Gang of Four,
Tomorrow,
June of 44,
The Doors,
Skaos,
CMW,
Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685, Joensuu 1685.
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.