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 Marshall Islands and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 marimba 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 The Martian to the punk 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 Little Man. All the underground hits.
All Angry Samoans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rosa Yemen,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bush Tetras,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Neon Judgement,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Alison Limerick,
Warren Ellis,
The United States of America,
Steve Hackett,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Surgeon,
The Cramps,
Funky Four + One,
Sun City Girls,
Franke,
Todd Rundgren,
Amon Düül II,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Leonard Cohen,
The Toasters,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
EPMD,
The Grass Roots,
Cecil Taylor,
Black Flag,
Ludus,
The Smoke,
The Last Poets,
Khruangbin,
Roy Ayers,
Ornette Coleman,
Man Eating Sloth,
Josef K,
Maurizio,
The Barracudas,
John Coltrane,
Jerry's Kids,
Ultra Naté,
Marmalade,
World's Most,
Pylon,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Jeff Mills,
The Young Rascals,
Crash Course in Science,
La Düsseldorf,
Avey Tare,
Soft Machine,
Bill Wells,
Soulsonic Force,
Terry Callier,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Sandy B,
Alice Coltrane,
Barry Ungar,
Kurtis Blow,
Zapp,
Television Personalities,
Ituana,
The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things, The Pretty Things.
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.