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 Gabon and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Skatalites 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 Spoonie Gee. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ajijia Myrayebe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Don Cherry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Panda Bear,
The Zeros,
Kaleidoscope,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Scion,
Public Image Ltd.,
Subhumans,
Altered Images,
the Fania All-Stars,
FM Einheit,
The Move,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Saints,
Grey Daturas,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
L. Decosne,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Leaves,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Ken Boothe,
Beasts of Bourbon,
ABBA,
Crash Course in Science,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Royal Trux,
The Electric Prunes,
The J.B.'s,
Suburban Knight,
Eden Ahbez,
the Slits,
Scrapy,
Cal Tjader,
Jeff Lynne,
Bill Near,
The Knickerbockers,
X-Ray Spex,
Ossler,
the Association,
Reagan Youth,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Porter Ricks,
Sam Rivers,
Metal Thangz,
The Residents,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Leonard Cohen,
Ituana,
The Invisible,
Eurythmics,
Roxette,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Tres Demented,
The Misunderstood,
Aloha Tigers,
Theoretical Girls,
Kerri Chandler,
Dawn Penn,
Lower 48,
Soul II Soul,
The Sonics,
The Wake,
Dual Sessions,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.