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 Senegal and from Manila.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 London Community Gospel Choir to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Donny Hathaway. All the underground hits.
All Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter and Kerry 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a MDC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Chrome,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Metal Thangz,
The Pretty Things,
Loose Ends,
Jandek,
Gang Starr,
The Count Five,
Yellowson,
Deakin,
The Motions,
New Age Steppers,
Boogie Down Productions,
Intrusion,
Das Ding,
Scott Walker,
Sun Ra,
Au Pairs,
Buzzcocks,
Sound Behaviour,
The Wake,
Model 500,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Durutti Column,
Jesper Dahlback,
Parry Music,
Wire,
Average White Band,
Scion,
K-Klass,
The Five Americans,
Bad Manners,
Iggy Pop,
The Busters,
Althea and Donna,
Fear,
Lebanon Hanover,
8 Eyed Spy,
Ash Ra Tempel,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Blackbyrds,
Rosa Yemen,
Harmonia,
The Residents,
Bob Dylan,
Public Image Ltd.,
Alphaville,
Goldenarms,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Y Pants,
Symarip,
Stereo Dub,
Pussy Galore,
Pere Ubu,
The Trojans,
The Misunderstood,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Crash Course in Science,
The Saints,
Henry Cow,
MC5, MC5, MC5, MC5.
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.