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 Kiribati and from Manchester.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pop Group 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 Lalo Schifrin. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cymande record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wally Richardson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zero Boys,
Audionom,
Scion,
The Count Five,
Lindisfarne,
Cybotron,
The Young Rascals,
Scott Walker,
Kayak,
The Slits,
Little Man,
The New Christs,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bootsy Collins,
Index,
The Kinks,
The Music Machine,
Moebius,
Eurythmics,
Isaac Hayes,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Marvin Gaye,
Jeru the Damaja,
Depeche Mode,
Amon Düül,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Modern Lovers,
Nik Kershaw,
La Düsseldorf,
The Barracudas,
KRS-One,
Television Personalities,
Harpers Bizarre,
Dorothy Ashby,
Chris Corsano,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Organ,
Faust,
Dennis Brown,
In Retrospect,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Martian,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rapeman,
Davy DMX,
The Names,
New Age Steppers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
U.S. Maple,
Smog,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Hot Snakes,
The Fire Engines,
T. Rex,
The Beau Brummels,
Robert Hood,
Young Marble Giants,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Ice-T,
Archie Shepp,
Slave,
Grey Daturas,
Amazonics,
UT, UT, UT, UT.
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.