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 Swaziland and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the güiro 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 Derrick Morgan to the funk 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 Second Layer. All the underground hits.
All Minor Threat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funky Four + One record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Hill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Darondo,
James White and The Blacks,
kango's stein massive,
Minutemen,
Gregory Isaacs,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Organ,
Vladislav Delay,
The Pretty Things,
U.S. Maple,
The Toasters,
The Sound,
Yellowson,
Altered Images,
Von Mondo,
Visage,
Quando Quango,
Skriet,
The Invisible,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Chris & Cosey,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Sonics,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Michelle Simonal,
Cameo,
LL Cool J,
Section 25,
The Real Kids,
Sugar Minott,
Heaven 17,
Arcadia,
Minnie Riperton,
Blake Baxter,
The Index,
The Dead C,
Franke,
Suburban Knight,
John Coltrane,
Alphaville,
Soulsonic Force,
Public Image Ltd.,
Frankie Knuckles,
DJ Style,
Liliput,
New Age Steppers,
Blancmange,
Al Stewart,
Kerrie Biddell,
Gong,
Gang Green,
Infiniti,
Bad Manners,
Ornette Coleman,
Ronnie Foster,
Warsaw,
Sarah Menescal,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Blossom Toes,
Kenny Larkin,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.