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 Slovenia and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Sly & The Family Stone. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Metal Thangz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crash Course in Science record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Move,
Toni Rubio,
Popol Vuh,
Swell Maps,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Idris Muhammad,
Joe Finger,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Aural Exciters,
The Invisible,
Amon Düül II,
Sparks,
Hardrive,
Radio Birdman,
Roxy Music,
Rhythm & Sound,
Wire,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Tom Boy,
Sixth Finger,
Althea and Donna,
Lindisfarne,
Dual Sessions,
Severed Heads,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Schoolly D,
Rites of Spring,
Camberwell Now,
The Last Poets,
Lungfish,
Yaz,
K-Klass,
The Smoke,
Theoretical Girls,
Fear,
X-101,
John Cale,
John Foxx,
Eden Ahbez,
This Heat,
Charles Mingus,
The Motions,
Technova,
Roger Hodgson,
Warsaw,
Maleditus Sound,
Jacques Brel,
Reagan Youth,
The Busters,
cv313,
The Velvet Underground,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
La Düsseldorf,
Robert Görl,
Bootsy Collins,
Ossler,
Tommy Roe,
Peter & Gordon,
Cameo,
Dawn Penn,
Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton.
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.