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 Pakistan and from Philadelphia.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 linndrum 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 Ronnie Foster to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Lucky Dragons tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Lungfish,
June Days,
Reuben Wilson,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Boogie Down Productions,
CMW,
The Misunderstood,
David Axelrod,
Nils Olav,
David McCallum,
Lou Reed,
Eddi Front,
The Count Five,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Loose Ends,
the Slits,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Doobie Brothers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
MDC,
Jesper Dahlback,
Danielle Patucci,
Index,
Moss Icon,
Country Teasers,
The Saints,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Qualms,
Iggy Pop,
Johnny Clarke,
Circle Jerks,
Isaac Hayes,
Traffic Nightmare,
Niagra,
Joe Smooth,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Section 25,
The Index,
Neil Young,
Slave,
Arab on Radar,
Kas Product,
World's Most,
Delon & Dalcan,
Soulsonic Force,
Soul II Soul,
Jeff Mills,
Stetsasonic,
Pylon,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bobby Womack,
Cheater Slicks,
The Detroit Cobras,
Ultimate Spinach,
Prince Buster,
Bush Tetras,
ABBA,
The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes.
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.