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 Cambodia and from Portland.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Index to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scrapy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a kango's stein massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sister Nancy,
The Happenings,
Crispy Ambulance,
Matthew Halsall,
Donny Hathaway,
Q and Not U,
Soulsonic Force,
Eli Mardock,
Fad Gadget,
Spoonie Gee,
Lebanon Hanover,
Kevin Saunderson,
Television,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Junior Murvin,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Tres Demented,
Blake Baxter,
Bauhaus,
Quantec,
The Wake,
The Gun Club,
Blancmange,
Ultravox,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
John Foxx,
Porter Ricks,
Little Man,
John Holt,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Agitation Free,
Wally Richardson,
Funky Four + One,
R.M.O.,
The Doobie Brothers,
Howard Jones,
Sight & Sound,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Roxy Music,
Au Pairs,
The Mighty Diamonds,
X-Ray Spex,
Wasted Youth,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Arcadia,
Crime,
F. McDonald,
The Trojans,
The Leaves,
the Swans,
Nico,
PIL,
Yusef Lateef,
The Star Department,
New York Dolls,
Bobby Womack,
Black Moon,
Adolescents,
The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five.
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.