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 El Salvador and from Cairo.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 clarinet 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 Graham Central Station to the punk 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 Soft Machine. All the underground hits.
All Ornette Coleman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Second Layer,
Skaos,
Grauzone,
The Zeros,
JFA,
Popol Vuh,
Robert Görl,
Flamin' Groovies,
MDC,
Babytalk,
X-Ray Spex,
Davy DMX,
Todd Terry,
Cal Tjader,
Darondo,
Sixth Finger,
D'Angelo,
Arthur Verocai,
Archie Shepp,
Flipper,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Tomorrow,
Desert Stars,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Mummies,
China Crisis,
L. Decosne,
Wally Richardson,
The Blues Magoos,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sight & Sound,
The Motions,
The Raincoats,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Hardrive,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Fire Engines,
These Immortal Souls,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Q and Not U,
Camberwell Now,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Anakelly,
Cluster,
Drexciya,
Alice Coltrane,
Eric Dolphy,
Alison Limerick,
Gang of Four,
The Invisible,
Duran Duran,
Crispy Ambulance,
Drive Like Jehu,
Quando Quango,
cv313,
Bill Near,
Mark Hollis,
Fela Kuti,
Symarip,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul.
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.