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 Malaysia and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro 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 Eyeless In Gaza to the rap 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 Ponytail. All the underground hits.
All Flamin' Groovies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Q and Not U 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zapp,
John Foxx,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Gerry Rafferty,
Japan,
the Bar-Kays,
Pere Ubu,
Black Sheep,
Suicide,
Khruangbin,
The Velvet Underground,
Sister Nancy,
Cabaret Voltaire,
cv313,
Lower 48,
The Alarm Clocks,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Mary Jane Girls,
James Chance & The Contortions,
World's Most,
Pet Shop Boys,
Whodini,
Tim Buckley,
Lucky Dragons,
The New Christs,
Camberwell Now,
Fatback Band,
Brand Nubian,
Pagans,
Nico,
Barry Ungar,
The Walker Brothers,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bill Wells,
K-Klass,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ituana,
Jacob Miller,
Franke,
Cal Tjader,
Groovy Waters,
Intrusion,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Grey Daturas,
Kurtis Blow,
Half Japanese,
Chrome,
Tubeway Army,
Rapeman,
Underground Resistance,
the Normal,
The Cramps,
The Golliwogs,
Prince Buster,
Albert Ayler,
Boredoms,
Theoretical Girls,
E-Dancer,
Quadrant,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Hashim, Hashim, Hashim, Hashim.
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.