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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Mexico City.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Half Japanese to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Funky Four + One. All the underground hits.
All Jawbox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sisters of Mercy 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fluxion,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Grandmaster Flash,
Cluster,
Mary Jane Girls,
Mad Mike,
Royal Trux,
The Doobie Brothers,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Das Ding,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
ABBA,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sugar Minott,
Scientists,
Sparks,
Loose Ends,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Scott Walker,
Cameo,
Nick Fraelich,
Magazine,
Joy Division,
Desert Stars,
OOIOO,
Zapp,
Yellowson,
Ultimate Spinach,
Subhumans,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Birthday Party,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Juan Atkins,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
K-Klass,
Rakim,
Echospace,
MC5,
Sixth Finger,
Barclay James Harvest,
Bauhaus,
John Lydon,
Chris & Cosey,
Aural Exciters,
Saccharine Trust,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Jacques Brel,
The Human League,
Motorama,
The Raincoats,
Mo-Dettes,
Intrusion,
The Fall,
Roxette,
Byron Stingily,
The Last Poets,
Radiopuhelimet, Radiopuhelimet, Radiopuhelimet, Radiopuhelimet.
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.