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 Vanuatu and from Calgary.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the theremin 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 Görl to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Supertramp. All the underground hits.
All The Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Zeros record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry Gold Smith,
Blake Baxter,
Sonny Sharrock,
Y Pants,
Marcia Griffiths,
Stockholm Monsters,
Eric B and Rakim,
Das Ding,
Eve St. Jones,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Busters,
June Days,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Robert Hood,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Masters at Work,
Banda Bassotti,
Reagan Youth,
Kevin Saunderson,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Cluster,
Jawbox,
Swans,
Erasure,
Scientists,
Subhumans,
Jimmy McGriff,
Roger Hodgson,
Harpers Bizarre,
the Normal,
The Electric Prunes,
The Zeros,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Barracudas,
The J.B.'s,
The Leaves,
The Associates,
Second Layer,
The Remains,
Depeche Mode,
Zapp,
The Detroit Cobras,
Matthew Bourne,
Don Cherry,
Ituana,
ABC,
Dead Boys,
Buzzcocks,
Aswad,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Excepter,
Sun Ra,
Television,
T. Rex,
The Smoke,
Yusef Lateef,
The Angels of Light,
Popol Vuh,
Barbara Tucker,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance, Crispy Ambulance.
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.