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 Nigeria and from Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 rhodes 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 Yusef Lateef to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Agitation Free tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The United States of America record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sam Rivers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
B.T. Express,
Fatback Band,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ronnie Foster,
Nick Fraelich,
Mandrill,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Victims,
The Move,
Don Cherry,
Warren Ellis,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Jimmy McGriff,
Jeff Mills,
Kenny Larkin,
Dark Day,
R.M.O.,
The Fall,
Groovy Waters,
Andrew Hill,
Maurizio,
Joe Finger,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Harry Pussy,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
T.S.O.L.,
Graham Central Station,
Can,
Joey Negro,
Symarip,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Velvet Underground,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Visage,
James White and The Blacks,
Con Funk Shun,
Isaac Hayes,
Judy Mowatt,
Ultra Naté,
La Düsseldorf,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bill Near,
Monks,
Pole,
The Count Five,
Glenn Branca,
Neil Young,
Soul II Soul,
Lower 48,
Joe Smooth,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
DJ Style,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Slackers,
Public Enemy,
Circle Jerks,
John Holt,
Chrome,
Letta Mbulu,
Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry, Pierre Henry.
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.