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 Bolivia and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet 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 Main Source to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All Harmonia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Guru Guru record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eli Mardock,
Tres Demented,
David Axelrod,
Main Source,
David Bowie,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bobby Sherman,
Gang of Four,
Chrome,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Wake,
The Cosmic Jokers,
the Slits,
Scott Walker,
B.T. Express,
Model 500,
David McCallum,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Wolf Eyes,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Grey Daturas,
the Normal,
The Fall,
Matthew Halsall,
Minor Threat,
Anakelly,
Agitation Free,
Magazine,
Sarah Menescal,
Colin Newman,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Dawn Penn,
Rapeman,
The Buckinghams,
Sam Rivers,
Max Romeo,
Donny Hathaway,
The Golliwogs,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Neon Judgement,
John Lydon,
Pere Ubu,
Joy Division,
Johnny Clarke,
Agent Orange,
The Cure,
The Music Machine,
Pierre Henry,
Mary Jane Girls,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sexual Harrassment,
AZ,
Warsaw,
Cameo,
Lalo Schifrin,
Loose Ends,
China Crisis,
The Standells,
The Beau Brummels,
Arab on Radar,
Ice-T,
Mission of Burma,
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.