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 Papua New Guinea and from Taipei.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare 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 Mandrill to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Public Image Ltd.. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lungfish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Echospace record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
New York Dolls,
Can,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nirvana,
Swans,
Franke,
Cal Tjader,
Animal Collective,
Bobby Womack,
Saccharine Trust,
Nas,
The Moody Blues,
Wings,
The Stooges,
Bauhaus,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Liliput,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Davy DMX,
Yellowson,
Sam Rivers,
Radiohead,
Jeff Mills,
In Retrospect,
Con Funk Shun,
Johnny Clarke,
Echospace,
Fugazi,
Bill Wells,
China Crisis,
Ohio Players,
Kaleidoscope,
the Germs,
The Toasters,
DJ Sneak,
Negative Approach,
Minor Threat,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Agent Orange,
Juan Atkins,
Sandy B,
The New Christs,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Velvet Underground,
Letta Mbulu,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Eurythmics,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Shadows of Knight,
Wolf Eyes,
Kas Product,
The Motions,
The Cowsills,
David Axelrod,
The Busters,
New Order,
Soul Sonic Force,
Banda Bassotti,
The Sound,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.