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 Tunisia and from Taipei.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 arpeggiator 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 Lower 48 to the grunge 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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slackers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Big Daddy Kane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Khruangbin,
Scientists,
The Last Poets,
Inner City,
U.S. Maple,
Unrelated Segments,
Outsiders,
ABBA,
Ludus,
The Smoke,
Dennis Brown,
Marc Almond,
Lakeside,
Sonny Sharrock,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Cowsills,
Mr. Review,
The Pretty Things,
Althea and Donna,
Ultra Naté,
MC5,
The Monks,
Black Pus,
Deepchord,
Desert Stars,
Yellowson,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Eric Copeland,
Porter Ricks,
Rosa Yemen,
The Gap Band,
The Sound,
Faust,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yaz,
Agent Orange,
The Moody Blues,
Dorothy Ashby,
Kenny Larkin,
The Grass Roots,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Marmalade,
Connie Case,
Lebanon Hanover,
Pantytec,
The Associates,
The Standells,
The J.B.'s,
The Skatalites,
The Velvet Underground,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bizarre Inc.,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Lalann,
Sonic Youth,
Con Funk Shun,
Frankie Knuckles,
Minor Threat,
Zapp,
Guru Guru,
DJ Sneak,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.