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 Vanuatu and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 808 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 The Birthday Party to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Kaleidoscope. All the underground hits.
All The Dave Clark Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arthur Verocai record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rites of Spring record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Jeff Mills,
Drexciya,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Guru Guru,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Kerri Chandler,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jandek,
Gang of Four,
Make Up,
Visage,
The Index,
Black Bananas,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Trojans,
Lou Reed,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Mummies,
Grey Daturas,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Accadde A,
Joe Finger,
Donald Byrd,
Ronnie Foster,
Ice-T,
MC5,
Josef K,
Isaac Hayes,
The Victims,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Suicide,
Scientists,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Rosa Yemen,
Black Moon,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
LL Cool J,
Clear Light,
Harry Pussy,
Index,
Terry Callier,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Q65,
Chris & Cosey,
Robert Hood,
Schoolly D,
the Normal,
Kaleidoscope,
The Walker Brothers,
Rotary Connection,
Robert Görl,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Human League,
Groovy Waters,
Roger Hodgson,
The Pop Group,
Ten City,
Khruangbin,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.