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 Botswana and from Taipei.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Ultramagnetic MC's to the jazz 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 Ossler. All the underground hits.
All Mars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Max Romeo 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 synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quantec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
The Grass Roots,
Minor Threat,
Toni Rubio,
Max Romeo,
Matthew Bourne,
Inner City,
Barry Ungar,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Vogues,
Pulsallama,
Basic Channel,
Patti Smith,
Gang of Four,
Kaleidoscope,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Mandrill,
The Fugs,
Pere Ubu,
The Mummies,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
John Holt,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Eric Copeland,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Terrestrial Tones,
the Association,
Cluster,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Dead C,
Quadrant,
Roger Hodgson,
Monks,
Babytalk,
Animal Collective,
Desert Stars,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Juan Atkins,
Organ,
Dennis Brown,
June Days,
In Retrospect,
Ultra Naté,
Blake Baxter,
The Moody Blues,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Spandau Ballet,
the Bar-Kays,
Robert Wyatt,
Lungfish,
Wings,
Yusef Lateef,
Bobby Byrd,
Piero Umiliani,
Jerry's Kids,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Standells,
Little Man,
The Neon Judgement,
Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail.
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.