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 Croatia and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 clarinet 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 OOIOO to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Easy Going. All the underground hits.
All Main Source tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Sherman 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Flesh Eaters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Gong,
This Heat,
Jeru the Damaja,
Desert Stars,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Stereo Dub,
Black Pus,
Sexual Harrassment,
Gang Starr,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Doors,
Panda Bear,
Wings,
Black Moon,
the Fania All-Stars,
D'Angelo,
Circle Jerks,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Smoke,
U.S. Maple,
Yellowson,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Tubeway Army,
B.T. Express,
Technova,
Ice-T,
Kool Moe Dee,
World's Most,
EPMD,
Kayak,
Supertramp,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Echospace,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Radiohead,
Index,
Ludus,
Oneida,
The Happenings,
Cal Tjader,
Electric Prunes,
Gabor Szabo,
David Bowie,
Niagra,
Sight & Sound,
Hasil Adkins,
Mad Mike,
Royal Trux,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Suicide,
Slave,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Easy Going,
Erykah Badu,
The Moody Blues,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.