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 Afghanistan and from Halifax.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the güiro 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 Sarah Menescal to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Bobby Womack. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wings 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Five Americans,
Marshall Jefferson,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gang Starr,
Rapeman,
Eric Dolphy,
Gerry Rafferty,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Cramps,
Josef K,
The Fugs,
Arab on Radar,
Lungfish,
Outsiders,
Main Source,
Adolescents,
The Victims,
The Litter,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Flipper,
Donny Hathaway,
New Order,
Sandy B,
Desert Stars,
Brick,
Stiv Bators,
MC5,
Sixth Finger,
Jerry's Kids,
Sonic Youth,
The Dirtbombs,
Tropical Tobacco,
Banda Bassotti,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Monks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Kayak,
The Toasters,
The Motions,
Gichy Dan,
Model 500,
One Last Wish,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Prince Buster,
Brand Nubian,
Jimmy McGriff,
Fear,
Rod Modell,
The Vogues,
Toni Rubio,
Spoonie Gee,
Das Ding,
Dorothy Ashby,
Country Teasers,
Erasure,
The Names,
Ultravox,
Tres Demented,
the Normal, the Normal, the Normal, the Normal.
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.