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 Vietnam and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Sparks to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Fortunes. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Scrapy,
Fela Kuti,
The Kinks,
The Grass Roots,
Harpers Bizarre,
Alison Limerick,
Barry Ungar,
Essential Logic,
Barrington Levy,
Todd Terry,
The Divine Comedy,
Soul II Soul,
Los Fastidios,
Scott Walker,
Dual Sessions,
Deepchord,
The Smiths,
Young Marble Giants,
PIL,
X-Ray Spex,
The Gladiators,
James White and The Blacks,
Nils Olav,
Crime,
Sister Nancy,
Donald Byrd,
the Normal,
Black Sheep,
Deakin,
cv313,
Shoche,
Barbara Tucker,
Nik Kershaw,
The Dirtbombs,
Little Man,
Rosa Yemen,
The Trojans,
Pussy Galore,
The Index,
T. Rex,
Henry Cow,
The Real Kids,
The Electric Prunes,
Althea and Donna,
John Coltrane,
Fear,
Wally Richardson,
Man Eating Sloth,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Crash Course in Science,
Dawn Penn,
Bobby Hutcherson,
John Lydon,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Panda Bear,
Swell Maps,
Bluetip,
Dark Day,
Eve St. Jones,
X-101,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.