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 Burkina and from Lyon.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Liliput to the rap 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 Fifty Foot Hose. All the underground hits.
All Roy Ayers Ubiquity tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris Corsano record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Beasts of Bourbon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
Yaz,
Crooked Eye,
Los Fastidios,
Steve Hackett,
The Golliwogs,
The Young Rascals,
The Smiths,
ABBA,
Quantec,
Can,
Rekid,
the Slits,
The Birthday Party,
Josef K,
Bauhaus,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Blackbyrds,
Barry Ungar,
Negative Approach,
Eli Mardock,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bob Dylan,
the Germs,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Dawn Penn,
KRS-One,
Don Cherry,
Grey Daturas,
Scan 7,
Television,
Eric B and Rakim,
DJ Style,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Yusef Lateef,
Flipper,
Blake Baxter,
Wire,
Matthew Bourne,
Lou Christie,
Q65,
Stetsasonic,
Nik Kershaw,
Soft Cell,
The Gladiators,
Moss Icon,
Tim Buckley,
Chrome,
Eden Ahbez,
Henry Cow,
Jeru the Damaja,
Minutemen,
Sparks,
Bad Manners,
Trumans Water,
Massinfluence,
Spandau Ballet,
Godley & Creme,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The United States of America,
Urselle,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.