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 Malawi and from Salvador.
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 Calgary and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 marimba 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 Tommy Roe to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Lalann. All the underground hits.
All Minny Pops tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Louis and Bebe Barron 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Delta 5 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Last Poets,
Jimmy McGriff,
Frankie Knuckles,
Ken Boothe,
Tim Buckley,
Pantytec,
Gong,
Derrick Morgan,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Outsiders,
Bauhaus,
8 Eyed Spy,
Funky Four + One,
The Doobie Brothers,
Nico,
One Last Wish,
Joy Division,
Mr. Review,
John Lydon,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Stiv Bators,
Lindisfarne,
John Holt,
Avey Tare,
Gerry Rafferty,
Harpers Bizarre,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Steve Hackett,
Inner City,
The Tremeloes,
Judy Mowatt,
Mo-Dettes,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Roxette,
Henry Cow,
T. Rex,
Carl Craig,
Organ,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Excepter,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Sam Rivers,
Yaz,
Zapp,
Gang of Four,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Theoretical Girls,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Kaleidoscope,
The Red Krayola,
Lucky Dragons,
Metal Thangz,
Stetsasonic,
In Retrospect,
Dual Sessions,
Anakelly,
The Martian,
Alice Coltrane,
Unwound,
Jandek,
Make Up,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.