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 Somalia and from Portland.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Desert Stars to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Harpers Bizarre. All the underground hits.
All Los Fastidios tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T.S.O.L. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alice Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Alphaville,
Thee Headcoats,
Dual Sessions,
Marvin Gaye,
A Certain Ratio,
Fear,
Outsiders,
China Crisis,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bush Tetras,
Technova,
Pole,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Swell Maps,
Hasil Adkins,
Scrapy,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Bronski Beat,
Chris Corsano,
the Swans,
The Monochrome Set,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Mummies,
Scott Walker,
The J.B.'s,
X-101,
Vainqueur,
The Smoke,
Guru Guru,
John Cale,
Ronnie Foster,
Cal Tjader,
Sugar Minott,
Zapp,
Flipper,
Isaac Hayes,
Piero Umiliani,
Archie Shepp,
Mark Hollis,
Nas,
Accadde A,
Aaron Thompson,
The Beau Brummels,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Vogues,
Half Japanese,
Thompson Twins,
Spandau Ballet,
Trumans Water,
Stiv Bators,
Sun City Girls,
Underground Resistance,
Juan Atkins,
Rapeman,
Scion,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bluetip,
Patti Smith,
Clear Light,
Ludus,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.