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 Djibouti and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Dirtbombs to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rekid. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nico 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Liliput,
Yusef Lateef,
The Birthday Party,
Lucky Dragons,
New Order,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Monks,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Susan Cadogan,
Japan,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Little Man,
Bauhaus,
The Black Dice,
La Düsseldorf,
Archie Shepp,
Warsaw,
Pantaleimon,
Hasil Adkins,
June of 44,
B.T. Express,
Ronan,
Crash Course in Science,
Cameo,
The Fuzztones,
The Smoke,
Cal Tjader,
Warren Ellis,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Rod Modell,
The Blackbyrds,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
R.M.O.,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Dirtbombs,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Barbara Tucker,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
U.S. Maple,
UT,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Harmonia,
Eurythmics,
Swell Maps,
The Cowsills,
Charles Mingus,
Newcleus,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Aloha Tigers,
Unwound,
Ludus,
The Evens,
Intrusion,
Crooked Eye,
LL Cool J,
Malaria!,
Spoonie Gee,
Gastr Del Sol,
Derrick May,
The Pop Group,
Alice Coltrane,
Todd Terry,
Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust.
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.