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 Netherlands and from Cairo.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 mellotron 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 Brick to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Crash Course in Science. All the underground hits.
All Kerrie Biddell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy's Rubber Band 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Man Eating Sloth,
John Holt,
Fela Kuti,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lebanon Hanover,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tom Boy,
Con Funk Shun,
Delta 5,
Jimmy McGriff,
Monks,
Bill Near,
The Flesh Eaters,
kango's stein massive,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Susan Cadogan,
Trumans Water,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Wasted Youth,
Al Stewart,
Junior Murvin,
Glambeats Corp.,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Average White Band,
Avey Tare,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Thompson Twins,
Ralphi Rosario,
48th St. Collective,
Arab on Radar,
Crime,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Busters,
The Misunderstood,
Archie Shepp,
Johnny Osbourne,
Cal Tjader,
Suicide,
Au Pairs,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Barbara Tucker,
Terrestrial Tones,
Easy Going,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bang On A Can,
Skarface,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Rapeman,
Pierre Henry,
Groovy Waters,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Nik Kershaw,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Terry Callier,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Main Source,
The Fortunes,
Metal Thangz,
Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape.
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.