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 Dominican Republic and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe 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 Barbara Tucker to the rock 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All The Beau Brummels tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wasted Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Doors,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Liliput,
Animal Collective,
Schoolly D,
Symarip,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Avey Tare,
Minor Threat,
Deakin,
Kevin Saunderson,
Kayak,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Technova,
Scrapy,
Peter and Kerry,
The Seeds,
Joey Negro,
Newcleus,
The Dirtbombs,
Dark Day,
Aloha Tigers,
Funky Four + One,
Marshall Jefferson,
Excepter,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Parry Music,
The Selecter,
Yusef Lateef,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Star Department,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
David Axelrod,
Cluster,
Kerri Chandler,
Cymande,
Dave Gahan,
Ornette Coleman,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Steve Hackett,
Jacques Brel,
Can,
KRS-One,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ludus,
The Remains,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Slits,
Joensuu 1685,
Arcadia,
Jeff Mills,
Blossom Toes,
Piero Umiliani,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
FM Einheit,
China Crisis,
Black Sheep,
Matthew Halsall,
The Buckinghams,
Guru Guru,
Radiohead,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.