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 Solomon Islands and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Houston.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Spoonie Gee to the disco 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 Simply Red. All the underground hits.
All Deakin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Altered Images 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Peter & Gordon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
Nick Fraelich,
Depeche Mode,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Chrome,
Country Joe & The Fish,
10cc,
Thee Headcoats,
Rosa Yemen,
Matthew Halsall,
The Evens,
Pulsallama,
Moss Icon,
Radio Birdman,
Marine Girls,
the Bar-Kays,
Traffic Nightmare,
One Last Wish,
Hasil Adkins,
Michelle Simonal,
Supertramp,
Wings,
Carl Craig,
The Blackbyrds,
Alphaville,
Kas Product,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
These Immortal Souls,
Johnny Clarke,
Amon Düül,
The Wake,
Mandrill,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Shadows of Knight,
The American Breed,
Royal Trux,
Brothers Johnson,
Delta 5,
Television Personalities,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Crispian St. Peters,
Warren Ellis,
The J.B.'s,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Max Romeo,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Hoover,
Roy Ayers,
Alice Coltrane,
Dave Gahan,
Sparks,
The Cowsills,
Lakeside,
Joensuu 1685,
Idris Muhammad,
Kerri Chandler,
Boredoms,
Peter and Kerry,
the Normal,
Fat Boys,
Das Ding,
Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps.
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.