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 Solomon Islands and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Sun Ra 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 Mad Mike. All the underground hits.
All Frankie Knuckles tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cowsills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kaleidoscope,
Oneida,
David McCallum,
Monolake,
Scrapy,
Archie Shepp,
Skaos,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Wake,
Black Flag,
Blossom Toes,
Model 500,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Los Fastidios,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Loose Ends,
Kas Product,
The Sound,
Boz Scaggs,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bobby Sherman,
Mission of Burma,
Tommy Roe,
Gang Starr,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Raincoats,
Monks,
Gastr Del Sol,
Basic Channel,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sarah Menescal,
Alton Ellis,
the Slits,
Mantronix,
Ultravox,
Nico,
Fear,
The Shadows of Knight,
Colin Newman,
Young Marble Giants,
Schoolly D,
Masters at Work,
The Invisible,
E-Dancer,
The Fugs,
Derrick May,
Gerry Rafferty,
Maurizio,
Rufus Thomas,
Joensuu 1685,
Whodini,
Public Image Ltd.,
Cameo,
Hardrive,
Banda Bassotti,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.