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 Paraguay and from Beijing.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Slits to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Fall. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drive Like Jehu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Quadrant,
Aural Exciters,
Hashim,
Steve Hackett,
Ohio Players,
X-101,
Junior Murvin,
10cc,
Massinfluence,
F. McDonald,
Nils Olav,
Jerry's Kids,
Section 25,
PIL,
Nation of Ulysses,
Wasted Youth,
Echospace,
The Knickerbockers,
Can,
Minnie Riperton,
the Soft Cell,
Peter and Kerry,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Mo-Dettes,
Skarface,
Mad Mike,
Amazonics,
Bootsy Collins,
David McCallum,
Jandek,
KRS-One,
The Modern Lovers,
Brand Nubian,
Rhythm & Sound,
David Bowie,
Lou Christie,
Bobby Byrd,
Lindisfarne,
The Barracudas,
Heaven 17,
the Fania All-Stars,
Qualms,
Danielle Patucci,
The Standells,
Radiopuhelimet,
Jacques Brel,
One Last Wish,
X-102,
Excepter,
Alton Ellis,
LL Cool J,
the Association,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Theoretical Girls,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mandrill,
The Slits,
Minor Threat,
The Leaves,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Maurizio,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.