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 Russia and from Houston.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Vainqueur to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eddi Front 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
One Last Wish,
Gregory Isaacs,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Vainqueur,
DJ Sneak,
Ronnie Foster,
Max Romeo,
The Gun Club,
Camberwell Now,
Lakeside,
Anthony Braxton,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pantytec,
Ken Boothe,
Wire,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Simply Red,
Procol Harum,
Liliput,
Scratch Acid,
the Bar-Kays,
Big Daddy Kane,
Mars,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Steve Hackett,
Fugazi,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The American Breed,
Derrick May,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Soulsonic Force,
Television Personalities,
Malaria!,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Monochrome Set,
Marshall Jefferson,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pulsallama,
Reuben Wilson,
Dorothy Ashby,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Stetsasonic,
Circle Jerks,
ABC,
Roger Hodgson,
Silicon Teens,
Blancmange,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Misunderstood,
Con Funk Shun,
Arab on Radar,
Barbara Tucker,
Tubeway Army,
Alton Ellis,
Whodini,
The Pretty Things,
Sonic Youth,
The Skatalites,
Bill Near,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.