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 Palau and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 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 Amon Düül II to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dave Clark Five. All the underground hits.
All Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kings Of Tomorrow record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Grass Roots record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ludus,
Yazoo,
Maleditus Sound,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Five Americans,
Sarah Menescal,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Von Mondo,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Derrick Morgan,
Rufus Thomas,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Jandek,
The Cowsills,
A Certain Ratio,
Minutemen,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Brothers Johnson,
Niagra,
Black Pus,
Average White Band,
The Index,
Ponytail,
48th St. Collective,
Slave,
The Blackbyrds,
Judy Mowatt,
Marshall Jefferson,
Maurizio,
Porter Ricks,
Bobby Sherman,
R.M.O.,
a-ha,
Model 500,
Negative Approach,
Roxette,
Aswad,
Technova,
Pierre Henry,
Y Pants,
Mo-Dettes,
Alton Ellis,
Main Source,
Jerry's Kids,
Joe Smooth,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Inner City,
Deakin,
Dawn Penn,
Marvin Gaye,
Theoretical Girls,
Aural Exciters,
Eric B and Rakim,
Parry Music,
Liliput,
Vladislav Delay,
Khruangbin,
Skarface,
Sun City Girls,
Index,
Mission of Burma,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sandy B, Sandy B, Sandy B, Sandy B.
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.