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 South Sudan and from Stockholm.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic to the punk 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 Crooked Eye. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sad Lovers and Giants 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Niagra,
Interpol,
Monks,
Ituana,
Joy Division,
The United States of America,
Shoche,
Suicide,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ultra Naté,
The Martian,
Suburban Knight,
Hardrive,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Dead Boys,
Fear,
Donny Hathaway,
Slick Rick,
Todd Rundgren,
Kayak,
Negative Approach,
Delta 5,
Scion,
Massinfluence,
Rufus Thomas,
Cluster,
Unrelated Segments,
Tim Buckley,
Young Marble Giants,
the Sonics,
Oblivians,
Marmalade,
Chrome,
The Dirtbombs,
Girls At Our Best!,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Gong,
Cal Tjader,
La Düsseldorf,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Alarm Clocks,
Toni Rubio,
Lightning Bolt,
Vladislav Delay,
The Dave Clark Five,
FM Einheit,
Bill Wells,
Crash Course in Science,
Sonic Youth,
Babytalk,
Ultravox,
Derrick Morgan,
David Bowie,
Supertramp,
Kerri Chandler,
Animal Collective,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Duran Duran, Duran Duran, Duran Duran, Duran Duran.
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.