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 Congo and from Mumbai.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 theremin 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 Wire to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Techniques. All the underground hits.
All Neu! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers 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 an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Rufus Thomas,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Jeff Lynne,
Blake Baxter,
Moss Icon,
Popol Vuh,
Hasil Adkins,
Howard Jones,
Half Japanese,
Judy Mowatt,
John Holt,
Mary Jane Girls,
Zero Boys,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
AZ,
Archie Shepp,
Erasure,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Aural Exciters,
ABC,
Television,
Make Up,
The Slackers,
Ice-T,
Q and Not U,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Jimmy McGriff,
Boz Scaggs,
JFA,
Reagan Youth,
The Dirtbombs,
Crispy Ambulance,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Brass Construction,
The Cowsills,
Kevin Saunderson,
Sonic Youth,
Kool Moe Dee,
Lakeside,
Symarip,
ABBA,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sun City Girls,
Public Image Ltd.,
New Order,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Mandrill,
DJ Sneak,
K-Klass,
The Gladiators,
The Zeros,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Outsiders,
The Grass Roots,
MDC,
The Gories,
the Swans,
10cc,
Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force, Soul Sonic Force.
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.