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 Kuwait and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe 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 Easy Going to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Oblivians. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Section 25 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Schoolly D record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Y Pants,
Quantec,
Severed Heads,
the Slits,
Dave Gahan,
Ultimate Spinach,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Pop Group,
Scion,
The Wake,
ABC,
Los Fastidios,
The Vogues,
The Shadows of Knight,
Index,
Young Marble Giants,
The Remains,
Arcadia,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Essential Logic,
Cheater Slicks,
Moby Grape,
Kas Product,
Jacob Miller,
Qualms,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ornette Coleman,
Organ,
Black Pus,
Echospace,
Susan Cadogan,
Cluster,
The Smiths,
Groovy Waters,
Royal Trux,
Surgeon,
Lakeside,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Terrestrial Tones,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Doobie Brothers,
Das Ding,
the Swans,
New Age Steppers,
Sight & Sound,
New York Dolls,
Boogie Down Productions,
Gastr Del Sol,
Barrington Levy,
The Toasters,
Monolake,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Tres Demented,
U.S. Maple,
Donny Hathaway,
48th St. Collective,
Franke,
Agent Orange,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.