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 Bahamas and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Camouflage to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Flash Fearless. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gun Club record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Adolescents,
The Searchers,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Desert Stars,
K-Klass,
Simply Red,
Outsiders,
The Beau Brummels,
Grey Daturas,
Yazoo,
The Red Krayola,
Susan Cadogan,
The Birthday Party,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Peter & Gordon,
The Move,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Scott Walker,
B.T. Express,
Tom Boy,
Loose Ends,
Derrick Morgan,
Con Funk Shun,
OOIOO,
Unrelated Segments,
Aswad,
Joy Division,
The Moleskins,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Magazine,
Ultra Naté,
Black Flag,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Minutemen,
Section 25,
Bang On A Can,
The Gladiators,
Soft Machine,
Scratch Acid,
Pylon,
Crime,
Cymande,
Sixth Finger,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Alphaville,
Fugazi,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
A Certain Ratio,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Intrusion,
Hoover,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Ohio Players,
Cheater Slicks,
Warren Ellis,
The Blues Magoos,
Erasure,
Goldenarms,
Iggy Pop,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.