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 Guyana and from Toronto.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Negative Approach to the grunge 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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Jandek tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
The Shadows of Knight,
Groovy Waters,
R.M.O.,
Quadrant,
Trumans Water,
Tom Boy,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Chrome,
Altered Images,
Eve St. Jones,
Loose Ends,
Eurythmics,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Electric Prunes,
Nils Olav,
Anakelly,
The Zeros,
Colin Newman,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Amazonics,
The Residents,
Animal Collective,
Kenny Larkin,
PIL,
Josef K,
Todd Rundgren,
The Dead C,
Babytalk,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Associates,
Agitation Free,
Sugar Minott,
Neu!,
Von Mondo,
New York Dolls,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Motorama,
Lindisfarne,
The Fall,
Sixth Finger,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
OOIOO,
Bizarre Inc.,
Joe Smooth,
John Holt,
Ornette Coleman,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Real Kids,
Nik Kershaw,
The Black Dice,
Mandrill,
Country Teasers,
Agent Orange,
The Neon Judgement,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Gabor Szabo,
Deepchord,
Adolescents,
Erykah Badu,
ABC,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Divine Comedy, The Divine Comedy, The Divine Comedy, The Divine Comedy.
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.