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 Laos and from Paris.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Rapeman to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Oblivians. All the underground hits.
All The Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 linndrum and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quantec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scrapy,
Alice Coltrane,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Soft Machine,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Vogues,
Depeche Mode,
Howard Jones,
Pharoah Sanders,
Lalann,
Metal Thangz,
Patti Smith,
Fatback Band,
Black Moon,
Echospace,
Sugar Minott,
Henry Cow,
MC5,
The Mojo Men,
Jeff Mills,
The Music Machine,
Jawbox,
Moby Grape,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
OOIOO,
Arthur Verocai,
The Wake,
Reuben Wilson,
Rites of Spring,
Matthew Bourne,
The Neon Judgement,
Hashim,
David Bowie,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The J.B.'s,
Massinfluence,
Sonic Youth,
Gil Scott Heron,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scratch Acid,
Idris Muhammad,
Nas,
Masters at Work,
Big Daddy Kane,
Yaz,
Don Cherry,
The Velvet Underground,
Harmonia,
The Associates,
Joey Negro,
Tommy Roe,
Black Pus,
X-102,
Scan 7,
Excepter,
Aloha Tigers,
Eli Mardock,
The Martian,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kerri Chandler,
Alison Limerick,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.