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 Saudi Arabia and from Beijing.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 David Bowie 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 Ralphi Rosario to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The Motions. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Litter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Banda Bassotti,
The Dave Clark Five,
Saccharine Trust,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bang On A Can,
Can,
Brand Nubian,
Heaven 17,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Kerri Chandler,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Leonard Cohen,
Theoretical Girls,
Robert Hood,
the Bar-Kays,
Popol Vuh,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Sparks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Prince Buster,
cv313,
Minny Pops,
Slick Rick,
Quadrant,
Roxy Music,
Quando Quango,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Ronnie Foster,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
F. McDonald,
Television,
Intrusion,
Jacques Brel,
Crispian St. Peters,
Donald Byrd,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Joe Smooth,
Motorama,
The Trojans,
Quantec,
The Modern Lovers,
Gastr Del Sol,
Agitation Free,
Stockholm Monsters,
Average White Band,
Wolf Eyes,
KRS-One,
Sugar Minott,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Pulsallama,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Dead C,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Cure,
Black Pus,
The Monochrome Set,
Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U.
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.