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 Honduras and from Lagos.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 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 Albert Ayler to the crunk 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 Andrew Hill. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
The Residents,
Rod Modell,
the Swans,
Jacob Miller,
Amazonics,
Barrington Levy,
Chris Corsano,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Cramps,
The Shadows of Knight,
A Certain Ratio,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lalo Schifrin,
Letta Mbulu,
The Offenders,
Anthony Braxton,
Sam Rivers,
Grey Daturas,
Rekid,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Trojans,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Neon Judgement,
The Remains,
The Move,
Alice Coltrane,
China Crisis,
The Beau Brummels,
Whodini,
Magazine,
Fela Kuti,
Junior Murvin,
Kaleidoscope,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Laurel Aitken,
Sun Ra,
T.S.O.L.,
Minutemen,
Suicide,
Pylon,
Leonard Cohen,
Bush Tetras,
Loose Ends,
Crispy Ambulance,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bad Manners,
Deadbeat,
Pantaleimon,
Fugazi,
Jimmy McGriff,
Japan,
Man Eating Sloth,
Ice-T,
Soul II Soul,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Juan Atkins,
Index,
Joy Division,
ABBA,
Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru, Guru Guru.
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.