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 Uganda and from Manchester.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Nirvana,
Pylon,
Lakeside,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bobby Byrd,
Royal Trux,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Selecter,
Jacques Brel,
Iggy Pop,
Ken Boothe,
Crime,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
a-ha,
The Vogues,
Kayak,
Fugazi,
the Bar-Kays,
Dead Boys,
Fear,
Jeru the Damaja,
Skaos,
Barbara Tucker,
Donald Byrd,
Lou Christie,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Clear Light,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Rod Modell,
Josef K,
Duran Duran,
Eden Ahbez,
Simply Red,
Kas Product,
Cluster,
Buzzcocks,
Rites of Spring,
Flamin' Groovies,
Freddie Wadling,
Pierre Henry,
Connie Case,
Oblivians,
Adolescents,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Agitation Free,
The J.B.'s,
Stereo Dub,
Fad Gadget,
Hardrive,
Khruangbin,
Technova,
Mad Mike,
Archie Shepp,
The Index,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bill Wells,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Faust,
Graham Central Station,
Organ,
UT,
Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy.
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.