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 Mexico and from Tehran.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 T.S.O.L. to the grime 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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nico 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacob Miller,
Infiniti,
Anthony Braxton,
Lou Reed,
Kerri Chandler,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Minor Threat,
Cameo,
The Slits,
Pet Shop Boys,
Mark Hollis,
Wally Richardson,
Lightning Bolt,
Hardrive,
Duran Duran,
The Smoke,
Subhumans,
Harry Pussy,
John Holt,
the Association,
Motorama,
Tears for Fears,
Joe Smooth,
Unwound,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ronnie Foster,
The Fall,
Guru Guru,
The Stooges,
Funkadelic,
the Slits,
Junior Murvin,
Yazoo,
Ronan,
Quantec,
The Doobie Brothers,
Todd Terry,
Alison Limerick,
Fat Boys,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Quando Quango,
Faraquet,
Andrew Hill,
Liliput,
Sam Rivers,
Lalann,
Bill Near,
The Sound,
Technova,
Ultra Naté,
Godley & Creme,
Sex Pistols,
Eric Dolphy,
Index,
Cymande,
Erasure,
Roger Hodgson,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Cure,
Marshall Jefferson,
Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape, Moby Grape.
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.