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 Panama and from Bremen.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Lyon.
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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Magazine to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All Iggy Pop tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barry Ungar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Technova,
JFA,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Birthday Party,
Idris Muhammad,
Frankie Knuckles,
Barry Ungar,
Drexciya,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Cowsills,
Groovy Waters,
Sound Behaviour,
Radiohead,
Grauzone,
Joey Negro,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Rufus Thomas,
Soulsonic Force,
Loose Ends,
the Soft Cell,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Zeros,
Trumans Water,
Jeff Lynne,
Public Image Ltd.,
Prince Buster,
DNA,
Peter and Kerry,
Marmalade,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sarah Menescal,
Main Source,
X-101,
Spoonie Gee,
Roger Hodgson,
The Toasters,
Nico,
Wally Richardson,
Gabor Szabo,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gastr Del Sol,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Adolescents,
the Fania All-Stars,
Bill Near,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Names,
Gang Gang Dance,
Anakelly,
Vainqueur,
Colin Newman,
Radio Birdman,
kango's stein massive,
Public Enemy,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Fuzztones,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Black Bananas,
The Raincoats,
Minny Pops,
Pussy Galore,
Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis.
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.