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 Benin and from Shanghai.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Michael McDonald 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 David McCallum to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Gian Franco Pienzio. All the underground hits.
All UT tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stereo Dub record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drive Like Jehu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Donny Hathaway,
Crispian St. Peters,
Idris Muhammad,
Intrusion,
The Happenings,
Johnny Clarke,
Swans,
Tim Buckley,
The Kinks,
Matthew Bourne,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Scratch Acid,
Rod Modell,
Gang Green,
Joe Smooth,
Ronan,
Lightning Bolt,
The Slackers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Average White Band,
Public Image Ltd.,
Audionom,
Subhumans,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Anakelly,
Smog,
Sex Pistols,
Nas,
Kurtis Blow,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Ohio Players,
Peter & Gordon,
The Detroit Cobras,
Todd Rundgren,
Fad Gadget,
Kayak,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Names,
Lou Reed,
The Human League,
Yusef Lateef,
Jacques Brel,
Hardrive,
Alphaville,
Dawn Penn,
Cybotron,
Qualms,
EPMD,
kango's stein massive,
Flash Fearless,
Gang of Four,
The Knickerbockers,
The Gun Club,
Pulsallama,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Echospace,
The Beau Brummels,
Hasil Adkins,
Spoonie Gee,
Wings,
Quantec,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.