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 London.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 FM Einheit to the funk 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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Dolphy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Whodini record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David McCallum,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Skriet,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bobby Byrd,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bluetip,
JFA,
Bush Tetras,
Tropical Tobacco,
Soft Machine,
Mars,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Fugazi,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Music Machine,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bobby Sherman,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Ice-T,
The Stooges,
Joe Smooth,
Arcadia,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Siglo XX,
The Neon Judgement,
Man Parrish,
Camberwell Now,
Silicon Teens,
Bill Wells,
The Buckinghams,
The United States of America,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Black Dice,
Youth Brigade,
Skarface,
Moebius,
Yazoo,
This Heat,
Arthur Verocai,
Make Up,
PIL,
Gang Gang Dance,
Donny Hathaway,
Minnie Riperton,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
a-ha,
The Shadows of Knight,
Hardrive,
Rhythm & Sound,
Lakeside,
Organ,
Moss Icon,
Ken Boothe,
the Human League,
Mo-Dettes,
E-Dancer,
Livin' Joy,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Nirvana,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.