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 Germany and from Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Procol Harum to the rap 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 The Royal Family And The Poor. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric Copeland 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?
Rapeman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Quadrant,
E-Dancer,
Althea and Donna,
DJ Sneak,
Black Pus,
Suicide,
Scientists,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Fat Boys,
Echospace,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Oblivians,
Skarface,
The Doors,
Saccharine Trust,
Jeff Mills,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Stetsasonic,
Newcleus,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Procol Harum,
Stockholm Monsters,
Avey Tare,
The Slackers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Los Fastidios,
Matthew Halsall,
Second Layer,
LL Cool J,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Tears for Fears,
Warren Ellis,
Crime,
Kool Moe Dee,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Half Japanese,
Subhumans,
Alphaville,
B.T. Express,
La Düsseldorf,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ohio Players,
The Cowsills,
Unrelated Segments,
Ken Boothe,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Sarah Menescal,
Marvin Gaye,
Depeche Mode,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Nils Olav,
The Monochrome Set,
Funky Four + One,
Mission of Burma,
Lyres,
Isaac Hayes,
The Busters,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Kenny Larkin,
Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen.
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.