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 Vanuatu and from Stockholm.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 güiro 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 Harpers Bizarre to the rock 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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All In Retrospect tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Young Marble Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roger Hodgson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shoche,
New Order,
Siglo XX,
Thee Headcoats,
Bootsy Collins,
Bob Dylan,
U.S. Maple,
Parry Music,
Ken Boothe,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Toasters,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Cure,
The Mojo Men,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pantytec,
Wally Richardson,
Ponytail,
Frankie Knuckles,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Delta 5,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gang Green,
Sällskapet,
D'Angelo,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Henry Cow,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Lower 48,
Jawbox,
Massinfluence,
Sugar Minott,
Jeff Lynne,
Rufus Thomas,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
La Düsseldorf,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Detroit Cobras,
Tubeway Army,
Alison Limerick,
Essential Logic,
The Stooges,
Schoolly D,
Chris Corsano,
Blancmange,
Television Personalities,
Little Man,
Sonic Youth,
Slave,
The Grass Roots,
The Motions,
Drive Like Jehu,
Vainqueur,
Amazonics,
Kenny Larkin,
Tom Boy,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.