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 San Marino and from Woodstock.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the güiro 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 Sex Pistols to the funk 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 Shuggie Otis. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delon & Dalcan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Searchers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hashim,
The Red Krayola,
Jawbox,
Todd Terry,
Amazonics,
Silicon Teens,
Fugazi,
The Pop Group,
Shuggie Otis,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Marmalade,
Moby Grape,
Moebius,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Girls At Our Best!,
Q65,
Black Moon,
UT,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Nirvana,
Barrington Levy,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
La Düsseldorf,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tommy Roe,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Ludus,
Blancmange,
Groovy Waters,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Searchers,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
T. Rex,
Todd Rundgren,
Kayak,
Delon & Dalcan,
Stetsasonic,
Lower 48,
Clear Light,
Maleditus Sound,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
U.S. Maple,
the Bar-Kays,
Massinfluence,
Negative Approach,
Mandrill,
Crash Course in Science,
Juan Atkins,
Arcadia,
Dawn Penn,
Isaac Hayes,
Rosa Yemen,
Blake Baxter,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Flash Fearless,
Guru Guru,
The Leaves,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.