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 Djibouti and from Madrid.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Johannesburg.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Neon Judgement to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sound Behaviour record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Scion,
Inner City,
The Sonics,
Fatback Band,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
EPMD,
Outsiders,
Black Sheep,
Deakin,
JFA,
Minor Threat,
Judy Mowatt,
Joey Negro,
The American Breed,
The Black Dice,
the Swans,
The Gun Club,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Barracudas,
Barrington Levy,
Lee Hazlewood,
Boogie Down Productions,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Derrick May,
The Dead C,
Archie Shepp,
K-Klass,
Rhythm & Sound,
David Bowie,
Liliput,
The Fall,
The J.B.'s,
The Golliwogs,
Moebius,
Clear Light,
Eddi Front,
Deadbeat,
Matthew Halsall,
Lucky Dragons,
Black Pus,
Kerri Chandler,
Cameo,
Malaria!,
Theoretical Girls,
The Shadows of Knight,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Nirvana,
Crispy Ambulance,
John Holt,
Bob Dylan,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Monks,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
CMW,
Charles Mingus,
New Age Steppers,
Unwound,
The Wake,
X-101,
Scott Walker,
The Motions,
Babytalk,
Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd.
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.