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 South Sudan and from Beijing.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 Robert Palmer 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Magma. All the underground hits.
All The Jesus and Mary Chain tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eli Mardock 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 an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Delon & Dalcan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fall,
Whodini,
Popol Vuh,
Scratch Acid,
Babytalk,
The Pretty Things,
Jeff Mills,
The Flesh Eaters,
EPMD,
The Gap Band,
Aloha Tigers,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Offenders,
Flipper,
the Sonics,
Max Romeo,
Jandek,
B.T. Express,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Red Krayola,
Roxy Music,
the Swans,
Au Pairs,
Technova,
Marvin Gaye,
Robert Hood,
Wasted Youth,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Section 25,
Suicide,
Wally Richardson,
Magma,
the Human League,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sarah Menescal,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mars,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ponytail,
Nirvana,
Joensuu 1685,
The Tremeloes,
Zapp,
The Wake,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Gong,
Audionom,
Procol Harum,
Unrelated Segments,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Bootsy Collins,
Groovy Waters,
Moss Icon,
The Fuzztones,
Drexciya,
The Fortunes,
Terry Callier,
Trumans Water,
The Residents,
Talk Talk,
Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans, Angry Samoans.
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.