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 Ethiopia and from Taipei.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 arpeggiator 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 LL Cool J to the dance 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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABBA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Y Pants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
This Heat,
John Lydon,
Ultimate Spinach,
Black Sheep,
Eric B and Rakim,
Eli Mardock,
Pantytec,
Procol Harum,
MDC,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dead Boys,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Martian,
The Walker Brothers,
Michelle Simonal,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Das Ding,
Idris Muhammad,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Pretty Things,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Loose Ends,
Robert Görl,
Q65,
DNA,
ABC,
48th St. Collective,
The Motions,
Soul Sonic Force,
T.S.O.L.,
Bobby Sherman,
Brass Construction,
Cluster,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Searchers,
Amazonics,
The Sonics,
Marshall Jefferson,
Tears for Fears,
the Soft Cell,
Juan Atkins,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Circle Jerks,
Banda Bassotti,
The Barracudas,
Colin Newman,
Ralphi Rosario,
Joe Finger,
Nils Olav,
Junior Murvin,
Derrick Morgan,
Eurythmics,
The Detroit Cobras,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Sandy B,
Sam Rivers,
The Evens,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.