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 Japan and from Salvador.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 theremin 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 Barry Ungar to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Dave Gahan. All the underground hits.
All Siouxsie and the Banshees tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nation of Ulysses,
Negative Approach,
Q and Not U,
Cluster,
Hardrive,
These Immortal Souls,
The Dave Clark Five,
Audionom,
The Electric Prunes,
Patti Smith,
Unrelated Segments,
UT,
Anthony Braxton,
Little Man,
Rapeman,
Freddie Wadling,
10cc,
Bill Near,
cv313,
Pere Ubu,
Pantaleimon,
Colin Newman,
Shoche,
The Happenings,
Funky Four + One,
Crooked Eye,
Supertramp,
Amon Düül,
the Association,
Alice Coltrane,
Sugar Minott,
Trumans Water,
R.M.O.,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Monks,
Moebius,
Intrusion,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Associates,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Modern Lovers,
Glenn Branca,
Parry Music,
The Seeds,
Jacob Miller,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lower 48,
the Germs,
Lindisfarne,
Dead Boys,
The Knickerbockers,
Basic Channel,
Spoonie Gee,
Ten City,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Count Five,
The Move,
Davy DMX,
Unwound,
In Retrospect,
Barry Ungar,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.