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 Cambodia and from Tehran.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Skaos. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suburban Knight record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Music Machine,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Agitation Free,
the Sonics,
Pierre Henry,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Harry Pussy,
KRS-One,
The Flesh Eaters,
Minor Threat,
Lou Reed,
Pole,
The Offenders,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Morten Harket,
OOIOO,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bronski Beat,
Marshall Jefferson,
Q and Not U,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Drive Like Jehu,
Gabor Szabo,
Jawbox,
John Coltrane,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Moody Blues,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Vladislav Delay,
D'Angelo,
Sonny Sharrock,
Jandek,
Thompson Twins,
Scratch Acid,
Joyce Sims,
The Tremeloes,
Sex Pistols,
Livin' Joy,
Tommy Roe,
Pylon,
kango's stein massive,
Jacob Miller,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Seeds,
Suicide,
Lee Hazlewood,
Television,
The Move,
Fad Gadget,
Iggy Pop,
Aswad,
David Axelrod,
AZ,
Barclay James Harvest,
New York Dolls,
Can,
The Last Poets,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
a-ha,
The Black Dice,
David McCallum,
Hot Snakes,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.