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 Algeria and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 synthesizer 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 Q and Not U to the techno 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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Coltrane 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a FM Einheit record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Happenings,
Grandmaster Flash,
Dawn Penn,
Neil Young,
The Skatalites,
Rapeman,
Robert Hood,
Eve St. Jones,
PIL,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Derrick May,
Los Fastidios,
The United States of America,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Searchers,
Andrew Hill,
Make Up,
Agent Orange,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Easy Going,
Magma,
The Move,
The Toasters,
Yazoo,
Funkadelic,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ornette Coleman,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Popol Vuh,
Johnny Clarke,
Siglo XX,
Lindisfarne,
Procol Harum,
Groovy Waters,
Franke,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Monochrome Set,
Drexciya,
The Busters,
F. McDonald,
The Doors,
Piero Umiliani,
Babytalk,
Wolf Eyes,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Thompson Twins,
Roxy Music,
The Doobie Brothers,
U.S. Maple,
Ituana,
Young Marble Giants,
Supertramp,
The Black Dice,
Al Stewart,
Half Japanese,
Michelle Simonal,
Hashim,
Slave,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.