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 Taiwan and from Shanghai.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 clarinet 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 Vainqueur to the grime 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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Animal Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kurtis Blow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Q and Not U record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jandek,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Groovy Waters,
kango's stein massive,
The Zeros,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Electric Prunes,
Hoover,
Porter Ricks,
Ludus,
China Crisis,
ABBA,
Con Funk Shun,
The Tremeloes,
Thee Headcoats,
Ten City,
The Searchers,
Arab on Radar,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Fortunes,
Eden Ahbez,
Public Enemy,
Howard Jones,
Ituana,
Circle Jerks,
Todd Rundgren,
Stetsasonic,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Warsaw,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
James White and The Blacks,
The Sound,
Au Pairs,
New Order,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Arcadia,
Nick Fraelich,
Rosa Yemen,
Bizarre Inc.,
Soft Machine,
Scott Walker,
Aswad,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Jimmy McGriff,
Grey Daturas,
Albert Ayler,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Suicide,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Cheater Slicks,
DJ Style,
Gichy Dan,
Tubeway Army,
Ken Boothe,
The Pop Group,
Dennis Brown,
Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood.
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.