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 Sudan and from Winnipeg.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Matthew Halsall to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Minny Pops. All the underground hits.
All Fat Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacques Brel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
Heaven 17,
Funky Four + One,
Juan Atkins,
Average White Band,
Con Funk Shun,
Cymande,
48th St. Collective,
Hashim,
Malaria!,
Sun Ra,
Leonard Cohen,
Dark Day,
Darondo,
Soul II Soul,
Aural Exciters,
Robert Wyatt,
The Smiths,
Los Fastidios,
Icehouse,
Massinfluence,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Tomorrow,
Jacob Miller,
Peter and Kerry,
Delta 5,
Soulsonic Force,
The Last Poets,
The Count Five,
Hot Snakes,
Alice Coltrane,
Loose Ends,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
E-Dancer,
Piero Umiliani,
Lou Reed,
DJ Sneak,
Japan,
Minutemen,
Kayak,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Monochrome Set,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bobby Byrd,
Lee Hazlewood,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gang Starr,
The Slits,
Shuggie Otis,
The Mummies,
The Detroit Cobras,
Godley & Creme,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lungfish,
Michelle Simonal,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Vladislav Delay,
Frankie Knuckles,
Eric B and Rakim,
Joensuu 1685,
James White and The Blacks,
The Stooges,
Dawn Penn,
Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls.
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.