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 Laos and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Wake to the grunge 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 Althea and Donna. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Funky Four + One,
Dual Sessions,
EPMD,
Sun City Girls,
Inner City,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
This Heat,
the Germs,
One Last Wish,
Kevin Saunderson,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Cure,
Eurythmics,
Piero Umiliani,
Sonny Sharrock,
Royal Trux,
Chris Corsano,
Oneida,
The Blackbyrds,
Interpol,
Yellowson,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pere Ubu,
Fatback Band,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Half Japanese,
Subhumans,
Monolake,
Black Bananas,
The American Breed,
Hasil Adkins,
The Pop Group,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Derrick May,
Darondo,
Aural Exciters,
Sugar Minott,
Grey Daturas,
Crash Course in Science,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Real Kids,
AZ,
Q65,
the Normal,
the Slits,
Electric Prunes,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Knickerbockers,
MDC,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Modern Lovers,
Television Personalities,
Adolescents,
Shuggie Otis,
Average White Band,
Anthony Braxton,
The Neon Judgement,
Al Stewart,
Bluetip,
Animal Collective,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.