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 Chad and from Shanghai.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sällskapet 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 Robert Wyatt. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every One Last Wish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy Collins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-101,
Terrestrial Tones,
Main Source,
Panda Bear,
Monks,
Tres Demented,
Josef K,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Crash Course in Science,
Kool Moe Dee,
Buzzcocks,
Soulsonic Force,
The Pop Group,
The Last Poets,
The Gories,
Crooked Eye,
Bobby Byrd,
Davy DMX,
The Gap Band,
The Slits,
Lou Christie,
Theoretical Girls,
Barry Ungar,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Surgeon,
Bush Tetras,
Marmalade,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Flamin' Groovies,
Fear,
Inner City,
Hasil Adkins,
Rekid,
Amazonics,
Ronan,
Minor Threat,
Massinfluence,
Byron Stingily,
Motorama,
Donny Hathaway,
Dawn Penn,
Alton Ellis,
Lou Reed,
Cymande,
Heaven 17,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The New Christs,
China Crisis,
Mr. Review,
The Electric Prunes,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Depeche Mode,
Robert Görl,
The Sonics,
Spandau Ballet,
Hoover,
Roxy Music,
Suburban Knight,
This Heat, This Heat, This Heat, This Heat.
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.