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 Papua New Guinea and from Toronto.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 synthesizer 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 Ultra Naté to the rap kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 The Blues Magoos. All the underground hits.
All Minny Pops tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sugar Minott record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gerry Rafferty record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter & Gordon,
The Moody Blues,
Leonard Cohen,
Minutemen,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Knickerbockers,
Gerry Rafferty,
Funkadelic,
Gang Gang Dance,
Fugazi,
In Retrospect,
Ultravox,
Flash Fearless,
the Sonics,
Curtis Mayfield,
Country Teasers,
Tomorrow,
Ken Boothe,
Warsaw,
Whodini,
These Immortal Souls,
The United States of America,
Symarip,
The Divine Comedy,
Young Marble Giants,
Minor Threat,
The Victims,
Mary Jane Girls,
Brothers Johnson,
Silicon Teens,
Yaz,
Lungfish,
Rakim,
Kool Moe Dee,
Mars,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Crispian St. Peters,
Massinfluence,
John Holt,
Sonic Youth,
KRS-One,
Ultra Naté,
LL Cool J,
Technova,
Reagan Youth,
Television Personalities,
Judy Mowatt,
Letta Mbulu,
Neil Young,
Mandrill,
The Leaves,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lakeside,
Crispy Ambulance,
Barbara Tucker,
Lalann,
Lee Hazlewood,
Kayak,
Eddi Front,
The Evens,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Adolescents,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.