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 Armenia and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 sitar 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 Eric B and Rakim to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bush Tetras. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman 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 dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boredoms,
The Barracudas,
Prince Buster,
This Heat,
Alphaville,
Sugar Minott,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Altered Images,
Qualms,
Hot Snakes,
The Vogues,
The Cramps,
One Last Wish,
T.S.O.L.,
E-Dancer,
Fear,
Angry Samoans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
In Retrospect,
Deepchord,
Jacques Brel,
The Fortunes,
Nas,
The Skatalites,
The Alarm Clocks,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Gun Club,
Camberwell Now,
Gabor Szabo,
The Saints,
Nick Fraelich,
Slick Rick,
Sonny Sharrock,
the Bar-Kays,
Lungfish,
Icehouse,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Jeru the Damaja,
Buzzcocks,
Delon & Dalcan,
Inner City,
The Zeros,
Ituana,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Moby Grape,
Electric Light Orchestra,
OOIOO,
Joe Finger,
Jesper Dahlback,
Rufus Thomas,
Black Pus,
Cameo,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Suicide,
Little Man,
Barbara Tucker,
Bobby Byrd,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Can,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.