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 Tanzania and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids to the punk 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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All David McCallum tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alphaville record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Tropical Tobacco,
Brand Nubian,
Oneida,
Chris & Cosey,
Minnie Riperton,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
DJ Sneak,
Jeff Mills,
Rod Modell,
Faust,
ABC,
Surgeon,
Dorothy Ashby,
Lou Reed,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Shadows of Knight,
The Gap Band,
Ultra Naté,
Crime,
Livin' Joy,
Porter Ricks,
Zapp,
Thee Headcoats,
The Martian,
Terry Callier,
B.T. Express,
Crispy Ambulance,
Wire,
La Düsseldorf,
The Selecter,
Funkadelic,
Whodini,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Kerrie Biddell,
The J.B.'s,
Gichy Dan,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
E-Dancer,
X-102,
Fluxion,
Nick Fraelich,
Jacques Brel,
Rosa Yemen,
Leonard Cohen,
The Divine Comedy,
Joey Negro,
June Days,
Young Marble Giants,
The Invisible,
Pierre Henry,
The Associates,
Al Stewart,
Soft Cell,
The Seeds,
Section 25,
Matthew Bourne,
Aswad,
Y Pants,
Barrington Levy,
The Searchers,
Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth.
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.