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 Kazakhstan and from Mexico City.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Leaves to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Steve Hackett. All the underground hits.
All the Bar-Kays tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Seeds,
Hashim,
Soft Machine,
Hot Snakes,
Rites of Spring,
Gang of Four,
Albert Ayler,
Technova,
Intrusion,
Derrick May,
Tropical Tobacco,
Nation of Ulysses,
Babytalk,
Television Personalities,
Andrew Hill,
Warsaw,
Lee Hazlewood,
the Sonics,
Ohio Players,
Robert Wyatt,
Brand Nubian,
John Lydon,
Minor Threat,
One Last Wish,
Pantytec,
Marcia Griffiths,
Matthew Halsall,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Trojans,
Eden Ahbez,
The Birthday Party,
Mandrill,
MDC,
Lindisfarne,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Camouflage,
Masters at Work,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lakeside,
Barclay James Harvest,
The American Breed,
Franke,
DNA,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Index,
Yusef Lateef,
Harry Pussy,
Scientists,
The Gap Band,
Flamin' Groovies,
Maurizio,
Nick Fraelich,
Joey Negro,
Nirvana,
Wasted Youth,
The Doobie Brothers,
Joe Finger,
Fatback Band,
CMW,
The Martian,
Bush Tetras,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
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.