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 Kenya 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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 linndrum 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 China Crisis to the rap 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 Lucky Dragons. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick 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 an oboe and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Raincoats record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Khruangbin,
Theoretical Girls,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Urselle,
Talk Talk,
The Fortunes,
Rufus Thomas,
D'Angelo,
Colin Newman,
Rod Modell,
Blossom Toes,
Japan,
Black Bananas,
Agent Orange,
Patti Smith,
T. Rex,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Niagra,
Aural Exciters,
Subhumans,
Jawbox,
Cybotron,
ABC,
The Monochrome Set,
Bill Near,
Maleditus Sound,
Laurel Aitken,
Sällskapet,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Minutemen,
Funky Four + One,
MDC,
Flash Fearless,
Oneida,
Shuggie Otis,
Quando Quango,
Alison Limerick,
Grandmaster Flash,
Accadde A,
New Age Steppers,
Duran Duran,
The Fugs,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Eric B and Rakim,
Jeru the Damaja,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Joyce Sims,
World's Most,
Gang Green,
Soft Machine,
Simply Red,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
James White and The Blacks,
Smog,
The Gories,
Soulsonic Force,
Marshall Jefferson,
Nico,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.