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 Turkey and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 Madrid and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Donny Hathaway to the dance 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 Main Source. All the underground hits.
All PIL tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pantaleimon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
James White and The Blacks,
Godley & Creme,
Neil Young,
Warren Ellis,
Surgeon,
Ludus,
Gang Gang Dance,
Pylon,
Blossom Toes,
Ornette Coleman,
Kayak,
Byron Stingily,
Crash Course in Science,
Sun Ra,
Susan Cadogan,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sex Pistols,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Todd Terry,
Royal Trux,
Duran Duran,
Colin Newman,
Quantec,
Bootsy Collins,
Bauhaus,
Parry Music,
Easy Going,
Funkadelic,
Tom Boy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
U.S. Maple,
Glenn Branca,
Lower 48,
10cc,
Inner City,
The Happenings,
Y Pants,
Silicon Teens,
Von Mondo,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Smiths,
B.T. Express,
the Normal,
Intrusion,
Man Parrish,
Yellowson,
David Axelrod,
Youth Brigade,
Lakeside,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Boredoms,
Ronan,
The Music Machine,
Harry Pussy,
The Evens,
Avey Tare,
Graham Central Station,
The Fall,
Gong,
Pole, Pole, Pole, Pole.
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.