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 Russia and from Edmonton.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 China Crisis to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Slackers. All the underground hits.
All Kaleidoscope tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jerry's Kids,
Michelle Simonal,
D'Angelo,
Girls At Our Best!,
Mo-Dettes,
Skarface,
The Last Poets,
Grey Daturas,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Quadrant,
Nils Olav,
Moebius,
Banda Bassotti,
The Motions,
Skriet,
DNA,
Bush Tetras,
Faust,
The Tremeloes,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Cecil Taylor,
Bang On A Can,
Eric B and Rakim,
Kurtis Blow,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Golliwogs,
Scratch Acid,
The Divine Comedy,
Joy Division,
10cc,
MDC,
Lucky Dragons,
Basic Channel,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Fugs,
Pierre Henry,
Patti Smith,
Connie Case,
La Düsseldorf,
Barbara Tucker,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Moss Icon,
DJ Style,
Absolute Body Control,
Glenn Branca,
Icehouse,
Jacob Miller,
R.M.O.,
The Move,
Dennis Brown,
Young Marble Giants,
Barry Ungar,
H. Thieme,
Nation of Ulysses,
Underground Resistance,
James White and The Blacks,
Fat Boys,
In Retrospect,
Al Stewart,
L. Decosne,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
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.