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 Dominican Republic and from Cairo.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 synthesizer 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 Ultravox to the jazz 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 Model 500. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doors,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Blues Magoos,
New Age Steppers,
Reuben Wilson,
Organ,
Theoretical Girls,
The Walker Brothers,
Fad Gadget,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Red Krayola,
AZ,
Bill Wells,
Scan 7,
Scion,
F. McDonald,
Soulsonic Force,
Bizarre Inc.,
R.M.O.,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Roy Ayers,
Idris Muhammad,
Sällskapet,
Rapeman,
Jimmy McGriff,
Moby Grape,
World's Most,
Barry Ungar,
Desert Stars,
Groovy Waters,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Deepchord,
Mad Mike,
Soul II Soul,
Flash Fearless,
Surgeon,
Glambeats Corp.,
Joensuu 1685,
John Cale,
Pole,
Crash Course in Science,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Tubeway Army,
Cameo,
Sarah Menescal,
Connie Case,
The Last Poets,
Banda Bassotti,
Tommy Roe,
Eric Dolphy,
The Slackers,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lakeside,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Velvet Underground,
James White and The Blacks,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Golliwogs,
Judy Mowatt,
Tres Demented,
Magazine,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.