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 Vietnam and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 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 Boz Scaggs to the grime 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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funky Four + One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Motorama,
Los Fastidios,
Glambeats Corp.,
LL Cool J,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Trumans Water,
Man Eating Sloth,
Jerry's Kids,
Hardrive,
Matthew Bourne,
Banda Bassotti,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Zeros,
Gong,
the Germs,
The Moleskins,
The Fall,
Second Layer,
the Fania All-Stars,
Marshall Jefferson,
Joe Finger,
Ice-T,
The Pretty Things,
Audionom,
The Gladiators,
Qualms,
Animal Collective,
Blake Baxter,
The Blackbyrds,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bobby Womack,
Liliput,
Junior Murvin,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Pussy Galore,
Gil Scott Heron,
Scott Walker,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lalann,
The Dead C,
Newcleus,
Sugar Minott,
Eden Ahbez,
Groovy Waters,
Joy Division,
Jeru the Damaja,
Q and Not U,
The Alarm Clocks,
Joe Smooth,
Drexciya,
AZ,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Metal Thangz,
Harpers Bizarre,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Khruangbin,
Zero Boys,
Monks,
Arab on Radar,
Radio Birdman,
Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars, Desert Stars.
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.