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 Honduras and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Selecter to the techno 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 The Saints. All the underground hits.
All Maleditus Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Associates record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moody Blues,
Clear Light,
Black Pus,
Andrew Hill,
Agitation Free,
Absolute Body Control,
Althea and Donna,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Banda Bassotti,
Von Mondo,
Kool Moe Dee,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lebanon Hanover,
Rekid,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ultimate Spinach,
Franke,
Ludus,
Boredoms,
T.S.O.L.,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Kinks,
Blossom Toes,
the Sonics,
Quantec,
Gerry Rafferty,
Rosa Yemen,
The Angels of Light,
Skarface,
Grey Daturas,
Sällskapet,
The Remains,
Pole,
Matthew Bourne,
Malaria!,
Gregory Isaacs,
Surgeon,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Cameo,
DJ Style,
Sister Nancy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
48th St. Collective,
The Evens,
Thompson Twins,
Ronan,
Ice-T,
Goldenarms,
The Alarm Clocks,
KRS-One,
Y Pants,
Mantronix,
Ituana,
New Age Steppers,
Hashim,
Angry Samoans,
Index,
The Fire Engines,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.