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 Uganda and from Woodstock.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Dave Clark Five to the electroclash 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 The Wake. All the underground hits.
All The Standells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pole record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Barbara Tucker,
Gichy Dan,
Mandrill,
The Fortunes,
Pole,
UT,
Roxy Music,
Jacob Miller,
Surgeon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
John Foxx,
Ronan,
Monks,
Joyce Sims,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Pussy Galore,
Neil Young,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Mr. Review,
The Walker Brothers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Smog,
Radiohead,
These Immortal Souls,
Janne Schatter,
The Busters,
China Crisis,
the Sonics,
Prince Buster,
Pylon,
Bad Manners,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Aural Exciters,
Jeff Lynne,
Agitation Free,
Heaven 17,
Sandy B,
R.M.O.,
Yusef Lateef,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Modern Lovers,
Lucky Dragons,
Chris Corsano,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Slick Rick,
Organ,
Derrick May,
Zapp,
Model 500,
Magazine,
Sixth Finger,
The Angels of Light,
Dead Boys,
Junior Murvin,
Donald Byrd,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sex Pistols,
Black Pus,
Neu!,
Mantronix,
Cecil Taylor,
U.S. Maple,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.