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 Sierra Leone and from Houston.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the oboe 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 Sarah Menescal to the techno 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Newcleus 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 spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Bar-Kays record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Adolescents,
Jandek,
Japan,
Fat Boys,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ken Boothe,
Simply Red,
Harmonia,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Pagans,
Funky Four + One,
Arthur Verocai,
Vainqueur,
Lee Hazlewood,
Brass Construction,
Connie Case,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Can,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Mr. Review,
Model 500,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Cal Tjader,
Fatback Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Aswad,
The Monks,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Red Krayola,
Slick Rick,
The Music Machine,
Kerrie Biddell,
Gil Scott Heron,
Rhythm & Sound,
L. Decosne,
Swans,
Agent Orange,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kerri Chandler,
the Human League,
OOIOO,
Roger Hodgson,
Grandmaster Flash,
Technova,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Sexual Harrassment,
Animal Collective,
Scan 7,
Laurel Aitken,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
David Axelrod,
The Residents,
Warren Ellis,
The Grass Roots,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Tears for Fears,
Panda Bear,
Pharoah Sanders,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Alton Ellis,
Absolute Body Control,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.