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 Malawi and from Johannesburg.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 guitar 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 The Dirtbombs to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Rotary Connection. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rosa Yemen 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 an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aloha Tigers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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?
Marcia Griffiths,
Mo-Dettes,
Suburban Knight,
Maleditus Sound,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Black Dice,
EPMD,
Tomorrow,
Ten City,
The Gap Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Camberwell Now,
Stockholm Monsters,
Unwound,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Accadde A,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Godley & Creme,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
AZ,
Eric Dolphy,
Tres Demented,
48th St. Collective,
Cecil Taylor,
Nation of Ulysses,
Urselle,
Young Marble Giants,
Joe Smooth,
Aural Exciters,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
A Certain Ratio,
Goldenarms,
The Monks,
Rod Modell,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Mantronix,
The Seeds,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Warren Ellis,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
the Swans,
Radiohead,
Wally Richardson,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Arab on Radar,
Judy Mowatt,
Lalann,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Fatback Band,
Fluxion,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
the Slits,
Eden Ahbez,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
David Axelrod,
Althea and Donna,
Ralphi Rosario,
Circle Jerks,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.