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 Sierra Leone and from Seoul.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 chamberlin 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 Deakin to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Warren Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Dual Sessions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Anthony Braxton record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Skatalites,
Rapeman,
Urselle,
The Wake,
Banda Bassotti,
Jeru the Damaja,
Mark Hollis,
James White and The Blacks,
Bang On A Can,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Real Kids,
Traffic Nightmare,
New York Dolls,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
CMW,
Bob Dylan,
The Sound,
Jesper Dahlback,
Make Up,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Slick Rick,
Peter and Kerry,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Hoover,
Funkadelic,
Camouflage,
H. Thieme,
The Young Rascals,
Adolescents,
the Association,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Eden Ahbez,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Unrelated Segments,
Drexciya,
Boredoms,
Niagra,
Harry Pussy,
Al Stewart,
Donny Hathaway,
Bizarre Inc.,
Yellowson,
Ultimate Spinach,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Carl Craig,
June Days,
Angry Samoans,
Bobby Byrd,
The Toasters,
kango's stein massive,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Franke,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sound Behaviour,
The Monks,
Intrusion,
Lou Christie,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kayak,
Arab on Radar,
Gregory Isaacs,
Reuben Wilson,
The Move, The Move, The Move, The Move.
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.