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 Burkina and from Copenhagen.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Wasted Youth to the rock 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 Guru Guru. All the underground hits.
All The Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gong record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Zeros record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Stiv Bators,
DJ Sneak,
LL Cool J,
the Bar-Kays,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Leonard Cohen,
Steve Hackett,
The Gories,
Jandek,
Unwound,
the Slits,
Rod Modell,
Funkadelic,
Roxy Music,
The Divine Comedy,
John Coltrane,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Minnie Riperton,
Kaleidoscope,
In Retrospect,
Maleditus Sound,
Iggy Pop,
Kerrie Biddell,
Graham Central Station,
Albert Ayler,
Vainqueur,
Half Japanese,
Pharoah Sanders,
Flipper,
Animal Collective,
David McCallum,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Technova,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Girls At Our Best!,
These Immortal Souls,
Au Pairs,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Cheater Slicks,
Surgeon,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Gladiators,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Juan Atkins,
MC5,
Pylon,
The Tremeloes,
OOIOO,
the Normal,
Camberwell Now,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ultimate Spinach,
Outsiders,
Arab on Radar,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Procol Harum,
Agitation Free, Agitation Free, Agitation Free, Agitation Free.
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.