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 Equatorial Guinea and from Houston.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the guitar 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 OOIOO to the punk 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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All Massinfluence tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Make Up record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lalo Schifrin,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Funkadelic,
Isaac Hayes,
Mission of Burma,
Depeche Mode,
Sarah Menescal,
Metal Thangz,
Minor Threat,
Barbara Tucker,
The Standells,
Au Pairs,
Shuggie Otis,
June Days,
Wings,
Harmonia,
Oblivians,
The Blackbyrds,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Aswad,
Rakim,
The Moody Blues,
Bronski Beat,
Joy Division,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Index,
Arthur Verocai,
Arab on Radar,
Frankie Knuckles,
Yusef Lateef,
AZ,
The Durutti Column,
Boredoms,
Charles Mingus,
Marmalade,
Bootsy Collins,
Laurel Aitken,
Nirvana,
Robert Wyatt,
Y Pants,
Barrington Levy,
Pylon,
DJ Sneak,
The Misunderstood,
Zapp,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Hashim,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scrapy,
Graham Central Station,
Eric Copeland,
Amazonics,
the Bar-Kays,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Oneida,
The Black Dice,
Alphaville,
The Real Kids,
48th St. Collective,
Dennis Brown,
Black Flag,
Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T.
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.