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 Belize and from Winnipeg.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 snare 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 New Order to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Raincoats. All the underground hits.
All Sun City Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Motorama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Unwound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ornette Coleman,
Outsiders,
Kurtis Blow,
Porter Ricks,
Kenny Larkin,
Faust,
Urselle,
Marc Almond,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gregory Isaacs,
Malaria!,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lindisfarne,
The Birthday Party,
Wally Richardson,
Supertramp,
Harpers Bizarre,
Stiv Bators,
Public Enemy,
Andrew Hill,
Crash Course in Science,
Subhumans,
Quantec,
Sexual Harrassment,
Mr. Review,
Camberwell Now,
Minnie Riperton,
Flipper,
Slave,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Black Dice,
Buzzcocks,
The Angels of Light,
Rosa Yemen,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Magma,
Albert Ayler,
T. Rex,
Moss Icon,
Marvin Gaye,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
D'Angelo,
Joy Division,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Lucky Dragons,
Sun City Girls,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Derrick Morgan,
Television,
Procol Harum,
Surgeon,
Alice Coltrane,
X-Ray Spex,
Brick,
Lebanon Hanover,
Pere Ubu,
The Mojo Men,
Soul Sonic Force,
Agent Orange,
Althea and Donna,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.