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 Spokane.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Lynne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every B.T. Express record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood 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?
Janne Schatter,
Circle Jerks,
The Skatalites,
Tim Buckley,
Banda Bassotti,
The Beau Brummels,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Make Up,
Spandau Ballet,
Thee Headcoats,
Radiopuhelimet,
Cal Tjader,
Eurythmics,
Joy Division,
Be Bop Deluxe,
These Immortal Souls,
Public Enemy,
Soulsonic Force,
Grey Daturas,
Lucky Dragons,
Girls At Our Best!,
Pere Ubu,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Monks,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sonny Sharrock,
Unrelated Segments,
Basic Channel,
Masters at Work,
Arab on Radar,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Gang Gang Dance,
Metal Thangz,
Gang Green,
Agitation Free,
Nik Kershaw,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Deakin,
Patti Smith,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Idris Muhammad,
Sugar Minott,
Man Parrish,
The Gap Band,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Silicon Teens,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Ludus,
Neil Young,
Ronnie Foster,
Arthur Verocai,
R.M.O.,
Deepchord,
The Doobie Brothers,
Brand Nubian,
Drexciya,
Cecil Taylor,
Outsiders,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Franke,
The Smoke,
The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers, The Knickerbockers.
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.