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 Andorra and from Manchester.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Robert Hood to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Parry Music. All the underground hits.
All Gregory Isaacs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jesper Dahlback,
Symarip,
One Last Wish,
Cheater Slicks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Cowsills,
Lalo Schifrin,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Stetsasonic,
Bootsy Collins,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Fugs,
Arthur Verocai,
Flash Fearless,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gang of Four,
Albert Ayler,
Motorama,
The Dead C,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Jandek,
Dark Day,
Quando Quango,
Babytalk,
Model 500,
Brass Construction,
Essential Logic,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Public Enemy,
Dave Gahan,
cv313,
Das Ding,
Don Cherry,
Reagan Youth,
The Sound,
The Slackers,
These Immortal Souls,
La Düsseldorf,
Ossler,
Au Pairs,
World's Most,
Crispy Ambulance,
Alton Ellis,
Leonard Cohen,
Popol Vuh,
Eve St. Jones,
Harpers Bizarre,
Ludus,
Youth Brigade,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Cramps,
Jawbox,
Buzzcocks,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sandy B,
Joey Negro,
Kaleidoscope,
Rites of Spring,
Minutemen,
Maurizio,
New Order,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.