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 Nepal and from Toronto.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Girls At Our Best! to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Thee Headcoats. All the underground hits.
All The Golliwogs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Outsiders 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dave Clark Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Byrd,
Jeff Mills,
Joyce Sims,
The Birthday Party,
Gabor Szabo,
Skaos,
Sight & Sound,
The Music Machine,
Amon Düül,
Crispian St. Peters,
Gang of Four,
Index,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Motions,
The Saints,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Cabaret Voltaire,
June Days,
Derrick May,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rekid,
Wolf Eyes,
Public Enemy,
Groovy Waters,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Marshall Jefferson,
Robert Görl,
Los Fastidios,
KRS-One,
Second Layer,
The Busters,
The Wake,
Banda Bassotti,
Dual Sessions,
Davy DMX,
Fugazi,
The Kinks,
Wings,
Tropical Tobacco,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sonic Youth,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Zapp,
Neil Young,
Mary Jane Girls,
Q65,
Soft Machine,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Fela Kuti,
Zero Boys,
Sex Pistols,
Flash Fearless,
Dawn Penn,
Stetsasonic,
Sandy B,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Fall,
Don Cherry,
the Human League,
Joensuu 1685,
The Fire Engines,
Jawbox,
Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force.
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.