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 Australia and from Accra.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Spokane.
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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Siglo XX to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cheater Slicks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Don Cherry,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Drexciya,
K-Klass,
Au Pairs,
June Days,
Buzzcocks,
David Bowie,
Mr. Review,
Curtis Mayfield,
Derrick Morgan,
Minny Pops,
Chris & Cosey,
The Sound,
The Fugs,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Yazoo,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Blake Baxter,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Evens,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Davy DMX,
Barclay James Harvest,
Mo-Dettes,
The Pretty Things,
World's Most,
Marc Almond,
Eve St. Jones,
Babytalk,
Yusef Lateef,
Connie Case,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lou Christie,
Alison Limerick,
Joe Finger,
Little Man,
Brothers Johnson,
The Smoke,
The Raincoats,
Roger Hodgson,
Grauzone,
Ice-T,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Moebius,
Lower 48,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Harry Pussy,
Hoover,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Easy Going,
The Barracudas,
Alton Ellis,
Matthew Bourne,
The Residents,
Scrapy,
Technova,
Bluetip,
Glenn Branca,
Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms, Boredoms.
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.