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 Chile and from Glasgow.
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 Philadelphia and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 arpeggiator 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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap to the funk 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 Q65. All the underground hits.
All Morten Harket tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every KRS-One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cecil Taylor,
Laurel Aitken,
Joyce Sims,
This Heat,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Motorama,
Half Japanese,
Kool Moe Dee,
Magazine,
Minny Pops,
Von Mondo,
Niagra,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Popol Vuh,
Aloha Tigers,
Guru Guru,
Livin' Joy,
Jesper Dahlback,
Soul II Soul,
The Move,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Donny Hathaway,
OOIOO,
The J.B.'s,
Dennis Brown,
Hardrive,
Electric Prunes,
Erasure,
The United States of America,
Ralphi Rosario,
Adolescents,
Ronnie Foster,
Ultravox,
The Blackbyrds,
Quadrant,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Graham Central Station,
Suicide,
One Last Wish,
Dead Boys,
Khruangbin,
Sam Rivers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Angels of Light,
Zapp,
New York Dolls,
Davy DMX,
Thee Headcoats,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Negative Approach,
The Flesh Eaters,
Neil Young,
UT,
Rekid,
Nik Kershaw,
Scientists,
Black Pus,
Eve St. Jones,
Q65,
Main Source,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.