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 New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator 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 Darondo to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Make Up. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alison Limerick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drexciya record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mantronix,
Grandmaster Flash,
Mandrill,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Boredoms,
cv313,
Jacob Miller,
Fugazi,
Buzzcocks,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Jawbox,
Rotary Connection,
Qualms,
Sun City Girls,
Ossler,
Pierre Henry,
ABBA,
Faust,
Jesper Dahlback,
Brothers Johnson,
Traffic Nightmare,
ABC,
Lalann,
Moss Icon,
F. McDonald,
Kenny Larkin,
Aural Exciters,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Letta Mbulu,
Banda Bassotti,
Derrick Morgan,
DJ Style,
Icehouse,
Yaz,
The Cure,
The Electric Prunes,
Yazoo,
Scrapy,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Cowsills,
Don Cherry,
Main Source,
Amon Düül II,
Crash Course in Science,
Brick,
Ohio Players,
Skriet,
Rites of Spring,
K-Klass,
Bobby Hutcherson,
World's Most,
Fela Kuti,
The Black Dice,
Gang Gang Dance,
Joe Smooth,
The Count Five,
48th St. Collective,
Con Funk Shun,
JFA,
MC5,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.