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 Armenia and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 chamberlin 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 The Shadows of Knight to the grime 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 Ronnie Foster. All the underground hits.
All Ralphi Rosario tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Liliput 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 harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Flipper,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Suicide,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Half Japanese,
Bill Near,
Crime,
Iggy Pop,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Toasters,
John Coltrane,
Pet Shop Boys,
Audionom,
CMW,
Scrapy,
Youth Brigade,
Glambeats Corp.,
Swans,
a-ha,
Das Ding,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Tres Demented,
Ronnie Foster,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Sherman,
Average White Band,
The Blues Magoos,
Malaria!,
Can,
Man Eating Sloth,
Tubeway Army,
Hardrive,
Ohio Players,
Judy Mowatt,
Erykah Badu,
Buzzcocks,
Lindisfarne,
Joy Division,
Absolute Body Control,
The Names,
Suburban Knight,
The Knickerbockers,
the Human League,
The Monochrome Set,
Unwound,
The Neon Judgement,
Altered Images,
Kerrie Biddell,
Section 25,
Chrome,
Monolake,
Hashim,
The J.B.'s,
Visage,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
June Days,
Blossom Toes,
Moss Icon,
One Last Wish,
Peter & Gordon,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.