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 Namibia and from Tokyo.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 arpeggiator 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 Barrington Levy to the grime 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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swell Maps 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tim Buckley record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slits,
Visage,
T. Rex,
Bluetip,
Kool Moe Dee,
Faraquet,
Thee Headcoats,
Lucky Dragons,
Scott Walker,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
JFA,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Grass Roots,
Blancmange,
Brothers Johnson,
Infiniti,
Soulsonic Force,
Audionom,
Deadbeat,
Quadrant,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Agitation Free,
The Monks,
Suicide,
Scrapy,
Delta 5,
Man Parrish,
Faust,
Cecil Taylor,
Newcleus,
Bob Dylan,
The Moleskins,
Big Daddy Kane,
World's Most,
Urselle,
China Crisis,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Young Marble Giants,
The Star Department,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Mummies,
The Fortunes,
Joe Smooth,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Spandau Ballet,
Sandy B,
Grey Daturas,
Mission of Burma,
Niagra,
The Beau Brummels,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Can,
Sister Nancy,
EPMD,
The Gories,
Hot Snakes,
The Misunderstood,
Colin Newman,
Archie Shepp,
Harpers Bizarre,
Cluster,
Thompson Twins,
Peter & Gordon,
Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence.
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.