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 Kazakhstan 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Houston.
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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Piero Umiliani to the grunge 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tomorrow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
Oneida,
Sandy B,
Cybotron,
Cecil Taylor,
Fear,
Fat Boys,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Pussy Galore,
Neil Young,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Eli Mardock,
The Slits,
Eric B and Rakim,
Ultimate Spinach,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
UT,
Niagra,
Graham Central Station,
Vainqueur,
Stereo Dub,
The Residents,
Television,
The Modern Lovers,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ohio Players,
Lalann,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Negative Approach,
Gong,
T.S.O.L.,
Ponytail,
Zero Boys,
Nick Fraelich,
Ultravox,
The Slackers,
This Heat,
Nirvana,
Arcadia,
Section 25,
Gang Green,
Grandmaster Flash,
Franke,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Donny Hathaway,
Con Funk Shun,
Mad Mike,
Joy Division,
Brick,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jeff Mills,
Connie Case,
The Black Dice,
Sun City Girls,
Lebanon Hanover,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pierre Henry,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Outsiders,
Juan Atkins,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.