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 Antigua and from Glasgow.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 theremin 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 Bootsy Collins to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud. All the underground hits.
All Aloha Tigers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Busters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fear record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nico,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Severed Heads,
Girls At Our Best!,
Fela Kuti,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Pet Shop Boys,
David McCallum,
Brand Nubian,
The Doors,
Dual Sessions,
Warren Ellis,
Oneida,
Accadde A,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Anthony Braxton,
Qualms,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Bobby Sherman,
Crispy Ambulance,
Spoonie Gee,
The Saints,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Wings,
Bobby Byrd,
Erasure,
Iggy Pop,
Ohio Players,
Eric Dolphy,
The Golliwogs,
Reuben Wilson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Mars,
Make Up,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sun Ra,
Sarah Menescal,
Andrew Hill,
Parry Music,
Juan Atkins,
Fear,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
ABC,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Tremeloes,
Clear Light,
Prince Buster,
The Dave Clark Five,
Ash Ra Tempel,
T.S.O.L.,
Funkadelic,
Sam Rivers,
Pierre Henry,
LL Cool J,
Amazonics,
Man Parrish,
Con Funk Shun,
The J.B.'s,
A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio.
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.