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 Bahrain and from Bremen.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 clarinet 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 Althea and Donna to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Los Fastidios record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fat Boys,
Albert Ayler,
Zero Boys,
Aaron Thompson,
China Crisis,
The Victims,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Searchers,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Skarface,
Jimmy McGriff,
Peter and Kerry,
Unrelated Segments,
The New Christs,
Babytalk,
Tom Boy,
AZ,
the Human League,
Joyce Sims,
The Sonics,
The Last Poets,
Darondo,
Soft Machine,
Gang Green,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Mummies,
Erykah Badu,
Matthew Bourne,
Camberwell Now,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Vladislav Delay,
Arcadia,
Archie Shepp,
Wally Richardson,
Sun Ra,
The Index,
Buzzcocks,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Fuzztones,
Henry Cow,
Rhythm & Sound,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Grandmaster Flash,
R.M.O.,
Roger Hodgson,
Angry Samoans,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lalo Schifrin,
Hashim,
DJ Style,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Blues Magoos,
Eric Copeland,
Danielle Patucci,
Tears for Fears,
Nico,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.