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 Suriname and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Johannesburg.
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 synthesizer 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 Ossler to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Slick Rick. All the underground hits.
All Terry Callier tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill 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 a linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Red Krayola record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-101,
the Slits,
Mantronix,
Chris & Cosey,
Leonard Cohen,
Kayak,
Sun City Girls,
Maurizio,
Von Mondo,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Lindisfarne,
Pere Ubu,
Sister Nancy,
Pole,
The J.B.'s,
Mo-Dettes,
Peter and Kerry,
Skarface,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Nas,
Nick Fraelich,
Ultravox,
The Monks,
Kevin Saunderson,
Glenn Branca,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Rhythm & Sound,
Stetsasonic,
John Foxx,
Organ,
Morten Harket,
The Doors,
Lebanon Hanover,
Roger Hodgson,
Eden Ahbez,
Barry Ungar,
Roxy Music,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Sound,
Robert Wyatt,
The Wake,
The Vogues,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ornette Coleman,
the Swans,
The Skatalites,
New Age Steppers,
AZ,
Albert Ayler,
The Neon Judgement,
Malaria!,
Mandrill,
The Busters,
Talk Talk,
Hashim,
The Monochrome Set,
The Leaves,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
June Days,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Joensuu 1685,
Robert Hood,
Neu!,
Electric Prunes, Electric Prunes, Electric Prunes, Electric Prunes.
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.