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 Denmark and from Bologna.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Country Joe & The Fish 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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All Little Man tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Grass Roots record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barry Ungar,
Masters at Work,
Funky Four + One,
Alice Coltrane,
Vladislav Delay,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Accadde A,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Mummies,
Barrington Levy,
Radio Birdman,
Shoche,
H. Thieme,
Hardrive,
Johnny Osbourne,
Mission of Burma,
Unwound,
Scion,
Swell Maps,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bobby Womack,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Thee Headcoats,
Juan Atkins,
This Heat,
Pere Ubu,
Joey Negro,
Toni Rubio,
MC5,
Fatback Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fat Boys,
Nico,
Bill Near,
Second Layer,
Metal Thangz,
Swans,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Vogues,
Black Moon,
The Wake,
Depeche Mode,
Crispian St. Peters,
Pantytec,
Hasil Adkins,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
LL Cool J,
June Days,
Wolf Eyes,
Byron Stingily,
Brass Construction,
Amazonics,
Index,
In Retrospect,
Pussy Galore,
John Lydon,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bob Dylan,
The New Christs,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.