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 Australia and from Johannesburg.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 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 June Days to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Black Moon. All the underground hits.
All Whodini tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Teenage Jesus and the Jerks 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New Age Steppers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
The Durutti Column,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Invisible,
The Walker Brothers,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Boredoms,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Count Five,
The Detroit Cobras,
A Certain Ratio,
Camberwell Now,
Radiopuhelimet,
Panda Bear,
Guru Guru,
Sight & Sound,
Cameo,
Traffic Nightmare,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Glenn Branca,
The Golliwogs,
Man Eating Sloth,
Isaac Hayes,
Wolf Eyes,
Sound Behaviour,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Franke,
Jawbox,
Skriet,
Pet Shop Boys,
Brothers Johnson,
Sparks,
Howard Jones,
the Bar-Kays,
The Stooges,
Marc Almond,
The American Breed,
Crooked Eye,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pagans,
The Names,
Kevin Saunderson,
Q65,
Minor Threat,
Joe Finger,
Janne Schatter,
Graham Central Station,
Jeff Lynne,
Ludus,
Quadrant,
Sällskapet,
Monolake,
Ornette Coleman,
The Fuzztones,
Judy Mowatt,
48th St. Collective,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Outsiders,
The Mojo Men,
Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller.
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.