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 Palau and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 Bremen and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every It's A Beautiful Day 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 harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donny Hathaway,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Darondo,
Intrusion,
John Lydon,
Marvin Gaye,
Mary Jane Girls,
Deepchord,
Marshall Jefferson,
Alphaville,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mars,
John Cale,
Skaos,
Inner City,
Infiniti,
Essential Logic,
The Monks,
Procol Harum,
China Crisis,
Hardrive,
Warsaw,
Electric Prunes,
Scratch Acid,
the Human League,
Pylon,
Q65,
Desert Stars,
The Trojans,
Rakim,
Rufus Thomas,
Fort Wilson Riot,
CMW,
H. Thieme,
Robert Görl,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Dennis Brown,
Pere Ubu,
Jesper Dahlback,
These Immortal Souls,
Prince Buster,
Ronan,
Joe Smooth,
Public Enemy,
The Birthday Party,
Ludus,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Joyce Sims,
R.M.O.,
Brass Construction,
Reuben Wilson,
Oblivians,
Swans,
Joe Finger,
Cecil Taylor,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Japan,
The Five Americans,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Monks,
Banda Bassotti,
New York Dolls,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.