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 Bosnia Herzegovina 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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to the rap 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 Intrusion. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fear record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Susan Cadogan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Das Ding,
La Düsseldorf,
Average White Band,
Henry Cow,
Dead Boys,
Spoonie Gee,
Television Personalities,
Leonard Cohen,
Iggy Pop,
Aswad,
Sun City Girls,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bronski Beat,
Delta 5,
The Five Americans,
Blancmange,
Fear,
Kayak,
The Slits,
Archie Shepp,
Arab on Radar,
Bluetip,
Deadbeat,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Oblivians,
The Leaves,
Man Eating Sloth,
Eve St. Jones,
Mandrill,
Thee Headcoats,
Model 500,
Anakelly,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Chris & Cosey,
E-Dancer,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
In Retrospect,
Tubeway Army,
Liliput,
Barclay James Harvest,
Cecil Taylor,
Magma,
Ornette Coleman,
Brick,
Mars,
Crooked Eye,
EPMD,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lungfish,
Sonic Youth,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Malaria!,
Trumans Water,
Mad Mike,
The Durutti Column,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lalo Schifrin,
Wings,
Glenn Branca,
Yusef Lateef,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.