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 Singapore and from Lyon.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Letta Mbulu to the punk 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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All Jawbox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
Sonny Sharrock,
Newcleus,
The Zeros,
ABBA,
Swell Maps,
Derrick May,
John Lydon,
Ronnie Foster,
Dawn Penn,
Gerry Rafferty,
Spoonie Gee,
The Vogues,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Move,
Lalo Schifrin,
Theoretical Girls,
Cecil Taylor,
Terrestrial Tones,
Talk Talk,
Lyres,
The Trojans,
Circle Jerks,
Bronski Beat,
Ten City,
Das Ding,
Scientists,
Morten Harket,
Sound Behaviour,
Surgeon,
Ken Boothe,
Sight & Sound,
Con Funk Shun,
Cluster,
Buzzcocks,
Wire,
Leonard Cohen,
Chris & Cosey,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Urselle,
John Foxx,
Smog,
Bobby Sherman,
The Raincoats,
The Stooges,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Index,
Man Eating Sloth,
Connie Case,
Pagans,
Pierre Henry,
Scrapy,
Marmalade,
Fat Boys,
Qualms,
L. Decosne,
Ossler,
Curtis Mayfield,
Television Personalities,
The Divine Comedy,
Eden Ahbez,
MC5,
Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force.
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.