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 Macedonia and from Stockholm.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 These Immortal Souls to the grime 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 Brass Construction. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Davy DMX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liliput,
Grandmaster Flash,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Vainqueur,
James White and The Blacks,
Bluetip,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Second Layer,
Maurizio,
The Barracudas,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Angels of Light,
Blancmange,
Jimmy McGriff,
Loose Ends,
Magma,
The Toasters,
LL Cool J,
The Gun Club,
Symarip,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Massinfluence,
Crime,
The Residents,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Magazine,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Scratch Acid,
Crash Course in Science,
Neu!,
Ludus,
Todd Terry,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Wasted Youth,
Charles Mingus,
Radiohead,
The Motions,
Eric Copeland,
Anakelly,
Marc Almond,
Mandrill,
David McCallum,
La Düsseldorf,
Lucky Dragons,
Bad Manners,
DJ Sneak,
New Order,
The Doors,
Das Ding,
John Holt,
Main Source,
Brand Nubian,
Country Teasers,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Dead Boys,
Yusef Lateef,
Tres Demented,
Archie Shepp,
Gong,
Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive.
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.