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 Angola and from Manchester.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Beijing.
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 harpsichord 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 Germs to the grunge 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 Bobby Sherman. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Country Joe & The Fish 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 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lakeside record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb 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 Germs,
Scott Walker,
Bobby Byrd,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lakeside,
the Bar-Kays,
Eric B and Rakim,
Sister Nancy,
The Doobie Brothers,
Hasil Adkins,
Basic Channel,
Derrick May,
MC5,
Livin' Joy,
Bronski Beat,
Scion,
Marshall Jefferson,
James White and The Blacks,
Bad Manners,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rites of Spring,
The Cowsills,
Jimmy McGriff,
X-Ray Spex,
Khruangbin,
Harry Pussy,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bobby Sherman,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The American Breed,
Vladislav Delay,
Kas Product,
Lee Hazlewood,
B.T. Express,
Niagra,
Mad Mike,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Patti Smith,
The Residents,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Public Image Ltd.,
Mary Jane Girls,
Television,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Organ,
Youth Brigade,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gerry Rafferty,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Stereo Dub,
Barbara Tucker,
Bizarre Inc.,
Grandmaster Flash,
Joensuu 1685,
Man Eating Sloth,
F. McDonald,
Monolake,
Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel, Ash Ra Tempel.
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.