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 Maldives and from Stockholm.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Massinfluence to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Cowsills. All the underground hits.
All Bluetip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ohio Players record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Starr,
Talk Talk,
Bush Tetras,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lungfish,
Delon & Dalcan,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Carl Craig,
Rufus Thomas,
In Retrospect,
The Dirtbombs,
Ohio Players,
Alton Ellis,
Scrapy,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Monks,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Mojo Men,
Blake Baxter,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Glenn Branca,
Barclay James Harvest,
Andrew Hill,
Kenny Larkin,
Bauhaus,
Nirvana,
Accadde A,
Panda Bear,
Cecil Taylor,
Yazoo,
Dual Sessions,
Barrington Levy,
DJ Sneak,
Lightning Bolt,
Charles Mingus,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Soft Cell,
The Star Department,
Basic Channel,
Throbbing Gristle,
Derrick Morgan,
Fela Kuti,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Eddi Front,
The Names,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Mo-Dettes,
Gang Green,
Aural Exciters,
Easy Going,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Mad Mike,
Moebius,
Lyres,
Minny Pops,
The Residents,
Dawn Penn,
The Divine Comedy,
Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra.
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.