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 Yemen and from Copenhagen.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Sao Paulo.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Black Moon to the funk 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 Crispy Ambulance. All the underground hits.
All Swell Maps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bob Dylan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin 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 harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Jacques Brel,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Beau Brummels,
Kas Product,
Fugazi,
Essential Logic,
June of 44,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gil Scott Heron,
Connie Case,
New York Dolls,
Nico,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Groovy Waters,
Soulsonic Force,
Joyce Sims,
Bill Near,
The Cure,
The Doors,
Surgeon,
Rufus Thomas,
Motorama,
Girls At Our Best!,
Steve Hackett,
Cymande,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eurythmics,
Aaron Thompson,
Ralphi Rosario,
Brick,
H. Thieme,
Mission of Burma,
FM Einheit,
Symarip,
Flash Fearless,
Moby Grape,
Leonard Cohen,
Yazoo,
Carl Craig,
Theoretical Girls,
Glambeats Corp.,
48th St. Collective,
Hot Snakes,
The Saints,
Skriet,
Letta Mbulu,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Graham Central Station,
T.S.O.L.,
Shoche,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
ABBA,
Grey Daturas,
The Real Kids,
EPMD,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Evens,
Aural Exciters,
Cheater Slicks,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.