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 Serbia and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 spring reverb 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 Ralphi Rosario to the rap 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 Bobby Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All Fifty Foot Hose tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-Ray Spex 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Section 25,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jeru the Damaja,
Excepter,
Sarah Menescal,
Thee Headcoats,
China Crisis,
Nirvana,
Bill Wells,
The Fugs,
Robert Wyatt,
Kas Product,
Drive Like Jehu,
Jawbox,
Sexual Harrassment,
Yazoo,
Altered Images,
the Sonics,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Lalo Schifrin,
Max Romeo,
Audionom,
Sällskapet,
Essential Logic,
Davy DMX,
The Detroit Cobras,
Camouflage,
The Toasters,
Soft Machine,
B.T. Express,
Man Parrish,
Mr. Review,
Pantaleimon,
Severed Heads,
Frankie Knuckles,
Crooked Eye,
June of 44,
JFA,
DJ Style,
Sound Behaviour,
The Slits,
The Knickerbockers,
Crispian St. Peters,
Siglo XX,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Pole,
The Music Machine,
Gang of Four,
The Cramps,
The J.B.'s,
Brand Nubian,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Fuzztones,
The Martian,
Donny Hathaway,
Goldenarms,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Black Dice,
The Velvet Underground,
Gerry Rafferty,
Gang Gang Dance,
Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs, Gregory Isaacs.
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.