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 Swaziland 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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Yazoo to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Alison Limerick. All the underground hits.
All Crispian St. Peters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arthur Verocai record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boz Scaggs,
Black Moon,
KRS-One,
Faust,
Minny Pops,
Urselle,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Radio Birdman,
Charles Mingus,
Spoonie Gee,
Eli Mardock,
Young Marble Giants,
Interpol,
Pussy Galore,
Pharoah Sanders,
New Age Steppers,
Stiv Bators,
Barrington Levy,
Bush Tetras,
Crispian St. Peters,
Prince Buster,
Throbbing Gristle,
David Axelrod,
Crooked Eye,
X-Ray Spex,
Sugar Minott,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Knickerbockers,
Peter & Gordon,
Deadbeat,
Goldenarms,
The Count Five,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Pylon,
the Fania All-Stars,
The American Breed,
Anthony Braxton,
Max Romeo,
Franke,
Nik Kershaw,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Cure,
Bluetip,
Mission of Burma,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Altered Images,
Swans,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Kinks,
Flipper,
Fatback Band,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Doors,
Dead Boys,
Rod Modell,
Wings,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Flamin' Groovies,
Leonard Cohen,
Rufus Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Rufus Thomas.
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.