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 Stockholm.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 Lou Reed 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 Barclay James Harvest to the rap 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 Rhythm & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Surgeon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Mills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer 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?
Saccharine Trust,
The New Christs,
Marvin Gaye,
The Move,
Dorothy Ashby,
Cluster,
Hardrive,
The Happenings,
The J.B.'s,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Bluetip,
Bronski Beat,
Little Man,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Johnny Clarke,
David Axelrod,
Henry Cow,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Outsiders,
Theoretical Girls,
Surgeon,
Mandrill,
Intrusion,
Nick Fraelich,
Blake Baxter,
Todd Terry,
Crime,
Aaron Thompson,
Pagans,
Chris & Cosey,
Quadrant,
Connie Case,
Thompson Twins,
Tom Boy,
the Association,
Jawbox,
The Monks,
DJ Sneak,
Suicide,
The Pretty Things,
Terrestrial Tones,
Radiopuhelimet,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Durutti Column,
The Modern Lovers,
Porter Ricks,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Letta Mbulu,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rod Modell,
Graham Central Station,
Andrew Hill,
Ten City,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Joy Division,
Man Parrish,
The Cure,
Joensuu 1685,
Jeru the Damaja,
Main Source,
Subhumans,
Kayak,
Roger Hodgson, Roger Hodgson, Roger Hodgson, Roger Hodgson.
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.