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 Togo and from Tehran.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 guitar 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 the Sonics to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Loose Ends. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sam Rivers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rosa Yemen,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stereo Dub,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Happenings,
Gastr Del Sol,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lakeside,
Fugazi,
Sixth Finger,
Bad Manners,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Selecter,
MDC,
Popol Vuh,
Lebanon Hanover,
Joe Smooth,
Kas Product,
Don Cherry,
X-101,
Franke,
Goldenarms,
Panda Bear,
The Skatalites,
The Barracudas,
Mr. Review,
Magma,
Bizarre Inc.,
DJ Style,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Erykah Badu,
One Last Wish,
Sex Pistols,
The Electric Prunes,
Marmalade,
Ken Boothe,
Bob Dylan,
Brand Nubian,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Man Parrish,
Ralphi Rosario,
Black Sheep,
Robert Görl,
Peter & Gordon,
Ponytail,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Zero Boys,
The Buckinghams,
Siglo XX,
Ronnie Foster,
Crash Course in Science,
Faraquet,
Rhythm & Sound,
Al Stewart,
Bootsy Collins,
Stetsasonic,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Crooked Eye,
June Days,
the Sonics,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.