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 Tunisia and from Paris.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 clarinet 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 Subhumans to the rap 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 Sunsets and Hearts. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jerry's Kids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a EPMD record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Barbara Tucker,
In Retrospect,
Tropical Tobacco,
Massinfluence,
Freddie Wadling,
The Cure,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Black Sheep,
Alton Ellis,
Barry Ungar,
Cal Tjader,
Ossler,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Amon Düül,
Country Teasers,
The Dave Clark Five,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ken Boothe,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Patti Smith,
Shoche,
Dual Sessions,
Nas,
Sparks,
Royal Trux,
Archie Shepp,
Infiniti,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Surgeon,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tears for Fears,
The Gories,
Icehouse,
Bronski Beat,
Gong,
Quando Quango,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gang Green,
Maleditus Sound,
Unwound,
ABBA,
Cybotron,
The Victims,
The Kinks,
Qualms,
Moby Grape,
Lakeside,
Kayak,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Fear,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Five Americans,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Skarface,
Popol Vuh,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Kerri Chandler,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.