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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Stockholm.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Patti Smith to the rock 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 the Normal. All the underground hits.
All the Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stiv Bators record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joyce Sims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
EPMD,
Skriet,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Sonny Sharrock,
Pet Shop Boys,
Soft Machine,
Schoolly D,
Zero Boys,
Panda Bear,
Godley & Creme,
Scan 7,
Shuggie Otis,
The Associates,
Fad Gadget,
8 Eyed Spy,
Derrick Morgan,
The Modern Lovers,
The Knickerbockers,
Kenny Larkin,
Rufus Thomas,
In Retrospect,
Black Moon,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sam Rivers,
Agent Orange,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Massinfluence,
Duran Duran,
Audionom,
Barry Ungar,
K-Klass,
James White and The Blacks,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Wake,
Rod Modell,
H. Thieme,
Vainqueur,
Main Source,
Liliput,
The Human League,
Dawn Penn,
Loose Ends,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Dead Boys,
Half Japanese,
Jandek,
Drexciya,
R.M.O.,
Minor Threat,
Minnie Riperton,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sexual Harrassment,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Circle Jerks,
Television Personalities,
John Holt,
One Last Wish,
Index,
Niagra,
The Misunderstood,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, Roy Ayers Ubiquity.
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.