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 Jakarta.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 guitar 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 R.M.O. to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Pylon. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minutemen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kenny Larkin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Harmonia,
Pierre Henry,
Mars,
The Five Americans,
Curtis Mayfield,
Underground Resistance,
T. Rex,
Marmalade,
Unwound,
Alison Limerick,
Yusef Lateef,
Tommy Roe,
Index,
Gang of Four,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Freddie Wadling,
Urselle,
The Fuzztones,
The Blackbyrds,
Fear,
The Gories,
Sparks,
The Toasters,
Grauzone,
Bobby Sherman,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ultra Naté,
The Kinks,
Anthony Braxton,
The Moody Blues,
Swans,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
John Coltrane,
Vainqueur,
Organ,
Flamin' Groovies,
Man Parrish,
Traffic Nightmare,
Glenn Branca,
Funky Four + One,
The Selecter,
AZ,
Bobby Byrd,
Peter & Gordon,
Fatback Band,
David Bowie,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Buzzcocks,
Jandek,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Black Dice,
The Slits,
Essential Logic,
Danielle Patucci,
Chrome,
Johnny Osbourne,
Theoretical Girls,
Althea and Donna,
Basic Channel,
The Young Rascals,
The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters.
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.