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 Maldives and from Lille.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Vainqueur to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Visage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Slackers,
ABBA,
The Raincoats,
Donny Hathaway,
Reagan Youth,
Delta 5,
The Smiths,
Q and Not U,
Roger Hodgson,
Hot Snakes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Kayak,
Unwound,
Oneida,
Soul Sonic Force,
Mandrill,
The New Christs,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
the Slits,
Lakeside,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Evens,
Bauhaus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ludus,
Vainqueur,
Newcleus,
Jandek,
The Star Department,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Reuben Wilson,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Accadde A,
Morten Harket,
Quantec,
The Gap Band,
Half Japanese,
Peter & Gordon,
Dual Sessions,
Visage,
Charles Mingus,
Crooked Eye,
Cal Tjader,
Fatback Band,
Roxy Music,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Aaron Thompson,
Bob Dylan,
Bad Manners,
The Angels of Light,
Minnie Riperton,
Scientists,
Mission of Burma,
The Techniques,
JFA,
The Happenings,
Marshall Jefferson,
Prince Buster,
Sandy B,
Anakelly, Anakelly, Anakelly, Anakelly.
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.