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 Syria and from Hong Kong.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 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 Joe Smooth to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Chris & Cosey. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Normal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s 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 Los Fastidios 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?
Lindisfarne,
ABBA,
Slick Rick,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Lower 48,
Isaac Hayes,
The Skatalites,
PIL,
Country Teasers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Marvin Gaye,
MC5,
ABC,
CMW,
Camouflage,
Hashim,
Sam Rivers,
Johnny Osbourne,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Shadows of Knight,
Aural Exciters,
Television,
Aloha Tigers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Alison Limerick,
Godley & Creme,
Steve Hackett,
Sonny Sharrock,
Maurizio,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Busters,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Boredoms,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Gap Band,
Don Cherry,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
48th St. Collective,
Desert Stars,
Andrew Hill,
MDC,
the Normal,
Toni Rubio,
These Immortal Souls,
Cymande,
Sixth Finger,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Minny Pops,
Scion,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lee Hazlewood,
Sonic Youth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Intrusion,
Ultravox,
Carl Craig,
Lalann,
Icehouse,
Erykah Badu,
Glenn Branca,
Patti Smith,
Clear Light,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.