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 Somalia and from Sao Paulo.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Cheater Slicks to the dance 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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All The Tremeloes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gap Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
The Electric Prunes,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Mummies,
E-Dancer,
Joe Finger,
The Human League,
Pussy Galore,
In Retrospect,
Subhumans,
Porter Ricks,
The Music Machine,
K-Klass,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Walker Brothers,
Kerri Chandler,
Derrick May,
The Dead C,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Depeche Mode,
Ultra Naté,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
OOIOO,
Lou Christie,
Duran Duran,
Scratch Acid,
The Barracudas,
Joensuu 1685,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Quadrant,
Eve St. Jones,
Bang On A Can,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kaleidoscope,
Lalann,
Terrestrial Tones,
Todd Rundgren,
Radiohead,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Fire Engines,
Masters at Work,
New York Dolls,
The Modern Lovers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Maurizio,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Stooges,
Harpers Bizarre,
Hoover,
The Index,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
La Düsseldorf,
Deadbeat,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Cluster,
Andrew Hill,
Thee Headcoats,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Man Parrish,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jerry's Kids,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.