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 Sierra Leone and from Bologna.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 marimba 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 Rufus Thomas to the crunk 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 Cymande. All the underground hits.
All The Velvet Underground tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kings Of Tomorrow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Faust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joyce Sims,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rufus Thomas,
Cymande,
Bauhaus,
Dawn Penn,
The Martian,
Interpol,
Deadbeat,
Soul Sonic Force,
Zero Boys,
PIL,
Bill Near,
Echospace,
The Detroit Cobras,
Rekid,
Bobby Womack,
Whodini,
Groovy Waters,
These Immortal Souls,
DNA,
Harpers Bizarre,
Minny Pops,
The Fugs,
Eric B and Rakim,
Kenny Larkin,
Henry Cow,
Donald Byrd,
EPMD,
Joe Smooth,
Babytalk,
Dual Sessions,
DJ Sneak,
Unrelated Segments,
The Motions,
Bluetip,
Icehouse,
Blancmange,
Curtis Mayfield,
James White and The Blacks,
The Star Department,
Mars,
Oblivians,
Skarface,
Duran Duran,
Public Enemy,
Brick,
Underground Resistance,
John Holt,
Crispy Ambulance,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sarah Menescal,
Pole,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Black Sheep,
New York Dolls,
The Searchers,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Fluxion,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.