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 Ireland and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the sitar 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 Morten Harket to the rock 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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All The Misunderstood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Half Japanese 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 a chamberlin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ponytail record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
Nico,
Pantaleimon,
The Pop Group,
Terrestrial Tones,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
a-ha,
Sällskapet,
Suburban Knight,
Hardrive,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Cramps,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lakeside,
Public Image Ltd.,
One Last Wish,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Blancmange,
Goldenarms,
Crash Course in Science,
Fat Boys,
This Heat,
Schoolly D,
Mary Jane Girls,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
DJ Sneak,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Blackbyrds,
Pierre Henry,
Eric Dolphy,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Scrapy,
Symarip,
Todd Rundgren,
Y Pants,
Pharoah Sanders,
La Düsseldorf,
The Flesh Eaters,
DJ Style,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Erasure,
Max Romeo,
Banda Bassotti,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lindisfarne,
Quantec,
Essential Logic,
the Normal,
Dual Sessions,
Reagan Youth,
Echospace,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Outsiders,
Procol Harum,
Kerrie Biddell,
Underground Resistance,
Ten City,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Absolute Body Control,
Monks,
Dawn Penn,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice.
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.