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 Canada and from Delhi.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a It's A Beautiful Day record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Anthony Braxton,
Al Stewart,
the Human League,
Scott Walker,
Sex Pistols,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Misunderstood,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lou Reed,
MDC,
New York Dolls,
Subhumans,
Funky Four + One,
Eric Copeland,
John Coltrane,
Smog,
Sister Nancy,
Gregory Isaacs,
Prince Buster,
The Golliwogs,
The Fuzztones,
Technova,
The Gun Club,
The Dead C,
Max Romeo,
Piero Umiliani,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Gap Band,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Girls At Our Best!,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Modern Lovers,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Grey Daturas,
Quando Quango,
The Doors,
The Cure,
Easy Going,
The Cowsills,
The Five Americans,
Rosa Yemen,
H. Thieme,
The Searchers,
Boz Scaggs,
Panda Bear,
Brothers Johnson,
Marine Girls,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Isaac Hayes,
Dead Boys,
Bad Manners,
Kas Product,
Junior Murvin,
Delta 5,
Leonard Cohen,
E-Dancer,
Black Bananas,
Television,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.