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 Ecuador and from Sao Paulo.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the oboe 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 Lebanon Hanover to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All Severed Heads tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Das Ding 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Popol Vuh record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Goldenarms,
John Holt,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
the Fania All-Stars,
Monolake,
Jeff Lynne,
Leonard Cohen,
Das Ding,
Archie Shepp,
Niagra,
The Standells,
Brass Construction,
The Leaves,
Aaron Thompson,
The Doors,
Unrelated Segments,
Ken Boothe,
Motorama,
Japan,
Tim Buckley,
Main Source,
Bang On A Can,
Tommy Roe,
Cecil Taylor,
T.S.O.L.,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Suicide,
Popol Vuh,
KRS-One,
The Martian,
Moby Grape,
UT,
Massinfluence,
Dead Boys,
The Beau Brummels,
Supertramp,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Blossom Toes,
Alphaville,
Sun Ra,
FM Einheit,
Kas Product,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Monochrome Set,
DJ Sneak,
Excepter,
Intrusion,
Peter & Gordon,
Judy Mowatt,
The Smiths,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sight & Sound,
LL Cool J,
Qualms,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Scrapy,
Amon Düül,
Dark Day,
The Angels of Light,
Flash Fearless,
The Red Krayola,
Schoolly D,
Ten City,
Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun.
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.