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 Switzerland and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Gregory Isaacs. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Banda Bassotti 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 harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Michelle Simonal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Radiohead,
Amon Düül,
Ken Boothe,
Section 25,
Minor Threat,
Warsaw,
The Fortunes,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Jawbox,
Kevin Saunderson,
Idris Muhammad,
The American Breed,
Rufus Thomas,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Technova,
Q and Not U,
Matthew Halsall,
Eddi Front,
Tomorrow,
Sparks,
Soulsonic Force,
The Selecter,
Slave,
Traffic Nightmare,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Cowsills,
Ituana,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
In Retrospect,
David McCallum,
Lightning Bolt,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lungfish,
Ludus,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Barry Ungar,
Public Enemy,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
the Germs,
Youth Brigade,
Bang On A Can,
Zapp,
The Dirtbombs,
Lalann,
Crime,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Rites of Spring,
Main Source,
Bob Dylan,
John Lydon,
The Smoke,
Newcleus,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Avey Tare,
Gong,
Deadbeat,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.