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 Ukraine and from Portland.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Moebius to the grime 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 Sexual Harrassment. All the underground hits.
All Piero Umiliani tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a H. Thieme record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
Lower 48,
Colin Newman,
Minor Threat,
Dawn Penn,
Andrew Hill,
Buzzcocks,
Don Cherry,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
LL Cool J,
Ronan,
Animal Collective,
The Monochrome Set,
Talk Talk,
Roxy Music,
Skarface,
Hasil Adkins,
Sister Nancy,
Ultra Naté,
The Barracudas,
Porter Ricks,
Sam Rivers,
The Gladiators,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Joe Smooth,
James Chance & The Contortions,
MDC,
Michelle Simonal,
John Cale,
The Doors,
the Association,
The Evens,
Matthew Halsall,
Deadbeat,
Y Pants,
Television,
Boredoms,
The Leaves,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Modern Lovers,
Little Man,
Althea and Donna,
UT,
Aswad,
Josef K,
Cal Tjader,
Flipper,
The Fugs,
Suburban Knight,
These Immortal Souls,
Stiv Bators,
Lou Christie,
Soft Cell,
Yaz,
PIL,
Bush Tetras,
Whodini,
Joyce Sims,
The Skatalites,
The Walker Brothers,
Soul II Soul,
Technova,
the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays, the Bar-Kays.
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.