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 Brazil and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 marimba 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 John Holt to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Terry Callier,
Panda Bear,
Chrome,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Sun City Girls,
Sound Behaviour,
The Zeros,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ornette Coleman,
Q and Not U,
DNA,
Metal Thangz,
Basic Channel,
the Human League,
Unwound,
Laurel Aitken,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Crime,
Livin' Joy,
Rapeman,
Robert Görl,
Faraquet,
Lalann,
Minnie Riperton,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Adolescents,
Trumans Water,
Infiniti,
June of 44,
the Slits,
8 Eyed Spy,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bootsy Collins,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Mantronix,
Ituana,
Roxy Music,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Monks,
The Knickerbockers,
Buzzcocks,
Malaria!,
Dead Boys,
Ohio Players,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Evens,
Kayak,
Robert Wyatt,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Severed Heads,
Suburban Knight,
the Fania All-Stars,
the Germs,
Television,
Aaron Thompson,
Stiv Bators,
X-Ray Spex,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.