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 Kazakhstan and from Tokyo.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Make Up to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Agent Orange. All the underground hits.
All David McCallum tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New York Dolls,
Warsaw,
Todd Rundgren,
Los Fastidios,
Kerrie Biddell,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Flesh Eaters,
Deepchord,
Crispian St. Peters,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Reuben Wilson,
Al Stewart,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Cowsills,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Marmalade,
The Zeros,
Crash Course in Science,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Drexciya,
One Last Wish,
Saccharine Trust,
Kaleidoscope,
Kerri Chandler,
Duran Duran,
Guru Guru,
Warren Ellis,
Rufus Thomas,
Aaron Thompson,
The Slits,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
John Coltrane,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Leonard Cohen,
the Fania All-Stars,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
In Retrospect,
Japan,
The Litter,
Suicide,
Metal Thangz,
Unrelated Segments,
Bootsy Collins,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Slick Rick,
Alphaville,
Bill Near,
The Pop Group,
Deadbeat,
The Beau Brummels,
Q and Not U,
Bang On A Can,
Flamin' Groovies,
Groovy Waters,
The Monochrome Set,
Lakeside,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Derrick Morgan,
Robert Görl,
Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix, Mantronix.
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.