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 Angola and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 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 AZ to the rock 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 Kenny Larkin. All the underground hits.
All The Martian tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minnie Riperton 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 snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Deadbeat,
The Detroit Cobras,
Alison Limerick,
Godley & Creme,
The Divine Comedy,
Chris & Cosey,
The Mummies,
Soft Machine,
Pagans,
Amazonics,
The Toasters,
Tubeway Army,
Roxette,
Suicide,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
La Düsseldorf,
Index,
Pole,
Toni Rubio,
The Gladiators,
Sarah Menescal,
Lucky Dragons,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Kayak,
The Dave Clark Five,
the Swans,
Stetsasonic,
Lightning Bolt,
The Music Machine,
Charles Mingus,
Can,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Fela Kuti,
Arcadia,
Derrick May,
The Five Americans,
Donald Byrd,
The Index,
The Gories,
The Fuzztones,
The Motions,
The Smiths,
The Cramps,
The Doobie Brothers,
Erasure,
Pussy Galore,
Chrome,
Lou Reed,
Aaron Thompson,
Gerry Rafferty,
Eve St. Jones,
Bush Tetras,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Cecil Taylor,
Easy Going,
Fluxion,
Rapeman,
Ronnie Foster,
The Selecter,
Youth Brigade,
Crispian St. Peters,
Dennis Brown,
James White and The Blacks,
Eli Mardock,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.