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 Grenada and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Peter & Gordon to the rap 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 The Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Joe Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Saints 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liliput record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
The Kinks,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Seeds,
Grandmaster Flash,
Darondo,
Pharoah Sanders,
Faraquet,
Radiohead,
Skriet,
In Retrospect,
Average White Band,
Warren Ellis,
AZ,
the Swans,
Zero Boys,
One Last Wish,
Clear Light,
Eve St. Jones,
Sarah Menescal,
Ralphi Rosario,
Lou Reed,
The Moody Blues,
Johnny Osbourne,
Johnny Clarke,
Franke,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Knickerbockers,
Kerri Chandler,
Bizarre Inc.,
Pere Ubu,
Black Sheep,
Aswad,
Todd Terry,
EPMD,
Lou Christie,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mission of Burma,
Skarface,
Lightning Bolt,
Agitation Free,
Parry Music,
Unrelated Segments,
The Saints,
Erasure,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Little Man,
Talk Talk,
The Fire Engines,
the Association,
Ohio Players,
Bluetip,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
UT,
Ken Boothe,
Bootsy Collins,
Black Pus,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.