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 Korea North and from Manchester.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet 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 Bush Tetras to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Erykah Badu. All the underground hits.
All The Toasters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lalo Schifrin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare,
Silicon Teens,
The Doobie Brothers,
Sparks,
the Sonics,
John Holt,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bill Near,
Interpol,
Bush Tetras,
Boredoms,
Harry Pussy,
Masters at Work,
Yellowson,
Desert Stars,
Japan,
Bob Dylan,
Kurtis Blow,
Animal Collective,
Swans,
The Associates,
Essential Logic,
The American Breed,
Boz Scaggs,
Alice Coltrane,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Faust,
Peter & Gordon,
Rod Modell,
Scion,
The Real Kids,
Chris & Cosey,
the Slits,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Blues Magoos,
Hardrive,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Monks,
Second Layer,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Eric B and Rakim,
Cal Tjader,
Maleditus Sound,
Unwound,
Harpers Bizarre,
Amon Düül II,
X-102,
Kerrie Biddell,
X-101,
Cluster,
David Axelrod,
T.S.O.L.,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Kayak,
Camouflage,
The Litter,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Loose Ends,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
48th St. Collective,
The Searchers,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads, Severed Heads.
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.