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 Colombia and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 theremin 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 Maleditus Sound to the jazz 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 Arab on Radar. All the underground hits.
All Crime tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Los Fastidios,
Index,
The Black Dice,
Make Up,
Niagra,
Sandy B,
The Electric Prunes,
Fela Kuti,
Cameo,
The Litter,
The Doobie Brothers,
Scion,
Michelle Simonal,
Bauhaus,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kaleidoscope,
Girls At Our Best!,
AZ,
Gil Scott Heron,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Amazonics,
Pole,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Slits,
The Skatalites,
Gerry Rafferty,
X-102,
The American Breed,
Archie Shepp,
Stockholm Monsters,
Grandmaster Flash,
Amon Düül II,
Sun City Girls,
Model 500,
DJ Style,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
MC5,
The United States of America,
Letta Mbulu,
Hashim,
The Buckinghams,
Brothers Johnson,
Marc Almond,
Q65,
Black Bananas,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Trojans,
Q and Not U,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Electric Prunes,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Basic Channel,
Todd Rundgren,
Pierre Henry,
Matthew Bourne,
Au Pairs,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Evens,
Marmalade,
Tim Buckley,
The Star Department,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.