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 Georgia and from Beijing.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 chamberlin 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 Dennis Brown to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry Gold Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
the Germs,
Gabor Szabo,
Gastr Del Sol,
Kevin Saunderson,
Monks,
Agitation Free,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Terrestrial Tones,
Robert Wyatt,
T. Rex,
Roy Ayers,
Japan,
Desert Stars,
T.S.O.L.,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Cure,
Sun Ra,
Barry Ungar,
Sarah Menescal,
The Invisible,
Oblivians,
Tommy Roe,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Wire,
Brand Nubian,
Dual Sessions,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The J.B.'s,
Yazoo,
The Sonics,
X-101,
Quantec,
Das Ding,
Altered Images,
U.S. Maple,
Gong,
The Shadows of Knight,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Tom Boy,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pet Shop Boys,
Theoretical Girls,
Piero Umiliani,
Ice-T,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Blake Baxter,
Sun City Girls,
ABBA,
Masters at Work,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Dave Clark Five,
Trumans Water,
The Grass Roots,
Deepchord,
Gerry Rafferty,
Scrapy,
Drexciya,
R.M.O.,
Monolake, Monolake, Monolake, Monolake.
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.