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 Latvia and from Spokane.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 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 Eden Ahbez to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All The Men They Couldn't Hang tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Newcleus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lyres,
The Birthday Party,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Jandek,
Funkadelic,
Drexciya,
Thompson Twins,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Josef K,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Beasts of Bourbon,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Q and Not U,
Youth Brigade,
The Fortunes,
the Sonics,
Don Cherry,
Mars,
Yaz,
FM Einheit,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Sex Pistols,
Darondo,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Walker Brothers,
Das Ding,
The Skatalites,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Stiv Bators,
Animal Collective,
Alison Limerick,
K-Klass,
The Offenders,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Hot Snakes,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Electric Prunes,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Searchers,
Technova,
Kool Moe Dee,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Slave,
CMW,
Talk Talk,
Steve Hackett,
Sonic Youth,
The Detroit Cobras,
Shoche,
Excepter,
Joey Negro,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Busters,
John Lydon,
Idris Muhammad,
Guru Guru,
Black Pus,
David Bowie,
Chris & Cosey,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.