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 Bangladesh and from Manchester.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity to the jazz 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 The Pop Group. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radio Birdman 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Offenders 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?
A Certain Ratio,
The Selecter,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bizarre Inc.,
Niagra,
Marvin Gaye,
Thee Headcoats,
Zapp,
The Index,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Traffic Nightmare,
Alton Ellis,
Eric Copeland,
Alice Coltrane,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Eric Dolphy,
The Fuzztones,
Leonard Cohen,
The Moody Blues,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Fall,
The Motions,
Jacob Miller,
Quantec,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Scott Walker,
The Seeds,
Chris Corsano,
Bob Dylan,
Khruangbin,
T.S.O.L.,
Fear,
Brothers Johnson,
Hot Snakes,
the Human League,
Absolute Body Control,
the Swans,
Ken Boothe,
Easy Going,
Donny Hathaway,
Flash Fearless,
Rapeman,
Agent Orange,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bobby Byrd,
The Doors,
Lower 48,
Harmonia,
Underground Resistance,
Von Mondo,
Dawn Penn,
Basic Channel,
Can,
The Smoke,
Eli Mardock,
The Golliwogs,
Mary Jane Girls,
Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas, Black Bananas.
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.