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 Djibouti and from Manchester.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 mellotron 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 Hot Snakes to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 The Pop Group. All the underground hits.
All The Cure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Wake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Derrick Morgan,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tommy Roe,
Motorama,
the Bar-Kays,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bauhaus,
Alice Coltrane,
Jeff Mills,
Scientists,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Mars,
Barry Ungar,
Public Image Ltd.,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Blossom Toes,
Monolake,
Franke,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Pharoah Sanders,
H. Thieme,
Anthony Braxton,
Gichy Dan,
Cheater Slicks,
The Divine Comedy,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Y Pants,
Faraquet,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Robert Görl,
Kenny Larkin,
Mantronix,
Roxy Music,
Theoretical Girls,
Sly & The Family Stone,
DJ Sneak,
Dark Day,
Fela Kuti,
The Remains,
Lalo Schifrin,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
E-Dancer,
Isaac Hayes,
JFA,
John Holt,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Charles Mingus,
Lebanon Hanover,
Archie Shepp,
Wasted Youth,
Yellowson,
Erasure,
Altered Images,
In Retrospect,
Neil Young,
Jeff Lynne,
Todd Terry,
KRS-One,
Gil Scott Heron,
Minnie Riperton,
Big Daddy Kane,
MDC, MDC, MDC, MDC.
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.