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 Haiti and from Jakarta.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Bobby Hutcherson to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Procol Harum. All the underground hits.
All Gabor Szabo 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 jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gories record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Trojans,
T. Rex,
The Cowsills,
Excepter,
Public Image Ltd.,
Neu!,
Prince Buster,
Derrick May,
Ken Boothe,
Franke,
World's Most,
Skaos,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Move,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Index,
Audionom,
FM Einheit,
Absolute Body Control,
Black Pus,
Clear Light,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Gap Band,
Motorama,
Country Teasers,
Suburban Knight,
Joy Division,
The Standells,
The Mummies,
Jeru the Damaja,
Youth Brigade,
Skriet,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Depeche Mode,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Pantytec,
Crash Course in Science,
Quantec,
Guru Guru,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Au Pairs,
Zapp,
Funkadelic,
Yusef Lateef,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Symarip,
Skarface,
The Names,
Lower 48,
The Moody Blues,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rhythm & Sound,
Alison Limerick,
The Monochrome Set,
Juan Atkins,
The Moleskins,
Cymande,
Radio Birdman,
OOIOO,
Ultra Naté,
Bluetip,
Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme, Godley & Creme.
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.