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 Cape Verde and from Lagos.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Shanghai.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 F. McDonald to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Sex Pistols. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monochrome Set record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Byron Stingily,
Bang On A Can,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Godley & Creme,
Blake Baxter,
Dawn Penn,
Rod Modell,
Quadrant,
Roxy Music,
MDC,
Graham Central Station,
Camouflage,
Reuben Wilson,
The Buckinghams,
The Raincoats,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Motions,
Alison Limerick,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Franke,
The Pop Group,
John Holt,
Rekid,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mantronix,
Qualms,
Organ,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Names,
Flipper,
Nirvana,
cv313,
Sugar Minott,
Jandek,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Flash Fearless,
Matthew Halsall,
Aural Exciters,
Peter & Gordon,
Harmonia,
Moby Grape,
Alton Ellis,
Stetsasonic,
Depeche Mode,
Arab on Radar,
Yellowson,
Japan,
Sun Ra,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Neu!,
Donald Byrd,
Swell Maps,
Duran Duran,
Arcadia,
Can,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels.
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.