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 Mongolia 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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba 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 EPMD to the disco 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 Deakin. All the underground hits.
All Black Flag tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Essential Logic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jawbox record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jawbox,
Livin' Joy,
E-Dancer,
Neu!,
Lakeside,
Liliput,
Crime,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sound Behaviour,
Juan Atkins,
The Slackers,
Qualms,
the Human League,
The Divine Comedy,
Lebanon Hanover,
Matthew Bourne,
Mad Mike,
OOIOO,
Derrick Morgan,
The Fall,
Index,
Oneida,
Idris Muhammad,
Connie Case,
The Happenings,
New Order,
Don Cherry,
Aloha Tigers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Model 500,
48th St. Collective,
Gang Green,
Q and Not U,
Piero Umiliani,
Swell Maps,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
June of 44,
Sparks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Nirvana,
Camberwell Now,
These Immortal Souls,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Buckinghams,
Circle Jerks,
Warsaw,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Leaves,
Joe Finger,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pantaleimon,
Underground Resistance,
Reagan Youth,
LL Cool J,
The Fuzztones,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Stereo Dub,
Boredoms,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Eric Copeland,
The Cowsills,
The New Christs,
The Red Krayola,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.