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 Guyana and from Cairo.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Shanghai.
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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 The Star Department to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 A Flock of Seagulls. All the underground hits.
All Kas Product tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monochrome Set record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Halsall,
Eric B and Rakim,
Subhumans,
The Modern Lovers,
Alton Ellis,
Isaac Hayes,
Lou Reed,
The Mojo Men,
The Music Machine,
The Grass Roots,
Siglo XX,
Hot Snakes,
The Barracudas,
the Bar-Kays,
Average White Band,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Yaz,
Donny Hathaway,
the Fania All-Stars,
Funky Four + One,
The Gories,
Sister Nancy,
The Move,
China Crisis,
Essential Logic,
Marmalade,
Idris Muhammad,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
X-101,
Ronnie Foster,
Barclay James Harvest,
Barbara Tucker,
Jawbox,
Public Image Ltd.,
Kayak,
Anthony Braxton,
Young Marble Giants,
John Cale,
Black Flag,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bauhaus,
Shoche,
Bronski Beat,
Country Teasers,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ralphi Rosario,
Aswad,
Tom Boy,
Angry Samoans,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Guru Guru,
La Düsseldorf,
Gang of Four,
Cal Tjader,
Aaron Thompson,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Drive Like Jehu,
Piero Umiliani,
Laurel Aitken,
Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol, Gastr Del Sol.
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.