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 Denmark and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Pole 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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Blancmange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Birthday Party,
Pulsallama,
The Saints,
Grandmaster Flash,
Soul II Soul,
EPMD,
Suicide,
Groovy Waters,
MDC,
Mission of Burma,
Sound Behaviour,
The Cure,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Red Krayola,
Lalann,
Matthew Halsall,
One Last Wish,
Banda Bassotti,
The Real Kids,
Sight & Sound,
Camberwell Now,
Procol Harum,
The Slackers,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Stooges,
Black Bananas,
The Fortunes,
New Age Steppers,
Essential Logic,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Lightning Bolt,
Marvin Gaye,
Dawn Penn,
The Litter,
Young Marble Giants,
Ralphi Rosario,
Altered Images,
Sex Pistols,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Selecter,
Fatback Band,
Skriet,
ABBA,
the Sonics,
Spandau Ballet,
John Foxx,
Tears for Fears,
Jeff Mills,
The Cowsills,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Warren Ellis,
Junior Murvin,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Black Pus,
Brothers Johnson,
The Last Poets,
David Bowie,
FM Einheit,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.