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 Korea South and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Copenhagen.
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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Ohio Players. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Larry & the Blue Notes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick May,
Blossom Toes,
Kerri Chandler,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
E-Dancer,
Half Japanese,
Erasure,
The Fortunes,
ABC,
Duran Duran,
Peter & Gordon,
Blancmange,
Don Cherry,
Eve St. Jones,
Amazonics,
The Toasters,
The Cramps,
The Walker Brothers,
Dave Gahan,
FM Einheit,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Crispian St. Peters,
The New Christs,
Surgeon,
Trumans Water,
Amon Düül,
Radiohead,
Make Up,
OOIOO,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Divine Comedy,
The Alarm Clocks,
Quadrant,
Soulsonic Force,
Davy DMX,
Anakelly,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gregory Isaacs,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
the Swans,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Q65,
The Pretty Things,
Marshall Jefferson,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Jacob Miller,
Terry Callier,
Rakim,
Whodini,
The Gun Club,
Ralphi Rosario,
Grauzone,
Boz Scaggs,
Pagans,
Scion,
A Certain Ratio,
Parry Music,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ituana,
Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango, Quando Quango.
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.