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 Burundi and from Sao Paulo.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 arpeggiator 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 Johnny Osbourne to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Faraquet. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Teasers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
the Bar-Kays,
Grandmaster Flash,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Cluster,
Grey Daturas,
Electric Prunes,
Zapp,
Bootsy Collins,
Mr. Review,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Loose Ends,
The Selecter,
Japan,
Radio Birdman,
Colin Newman,
Television Personalities,
Roger Hodgson,
Black Sheep,
U.S. Maple,
PIL,
Scrapy,
Deakin,
EPMD,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Archie Shepp,
Deepchord,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
David Axelrod,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Eden Ahbez,
Absolute Body Control,
The Knickerbockers,
Panda Bear,
Negative Approach,
Accadde A,
Neu!,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Divine Comedy,
Sarah Menescal,
Eric Dolphy,
Drive Like Jehu,
Index,
The Sound,
Sister Nancy,
The Cure,
Cymande,
Piero Umiliani,
China Crisis,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Pole,
B.T. Express,
Sun City Girls,
Royal Trux,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Blake Baxter,
Ituana,
Nik Kershaw,
Arcadia,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.