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 Fiji and from Lagos.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the sitar 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 Swell Maps to the disco 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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy Collins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Panda Bear 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 a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brothers Johnson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Talk Talk,
James White and The Blacks,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Fuzztones,
Monks,
Glenn Branca,
R.M.O.,
The Toasters,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Andrew Hill,
Roy Ayers,
Erasure,
AZ,
Eric Dolphy,
Eddi Front,
Jimmy McGriff,
Bush Tetras,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Hardrive,
Joyce Sims,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bronski Beat,
MC5,
A Certain Ratio,
Basic Channel,
The Litter,
Ornette Coleman,
KRS-One,
Soul Sonic Force,
Todd Terry,
The Fall,
Peter and Kerry,
The Grass Roots,
The Smiths,
Flash Fearless,
The J.B.'s,
Brick,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Connie Case,
Harry Pussy,
Ken Boothe,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pharoah Sanders,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bad Manners,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Barbara Tucker,
Can,
Gang Gang Dance,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Khruangbin,
Mad Mike,
Pole,
Sällskapet,
Letta Mbulu,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Lebanon Hanover,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Livin' Joy,
Public Enemy,
Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence.
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.