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 Ecuador and from Mexico City.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Gang Starr to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Moleskins. All the underground hits.
All Magma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glenn Branca record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Frankie Knuckles,
Harmonia,
The Fall,
Prince Buster,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ralphi Rosario,
Arcadia,
The Doors,
Charles Mingus,
Cameo,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Surgeon,
Andrew Hill,
Flipper,
Funky Four + One,
The Count Five,
The Moleskins,
The Happenings,
10cc,
Joe Finger,
AZ,
Lindisfarne,
Gil Scott Heron,
MDC,
Anthony Braxton,
Adolescents,
Gang Starr,
Camberwell Now,
Fat Boys,
Dennis Brown,
The Misunderstood,
Alphaville,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sun City Girls,
Curtis Mayfield,
Sun Ra,
Al Stewart,
Isaac Hayes,
The Birthday Party,
Reuben Wilson,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Fear,
Sparks,
Technova,
The Gladiators,
Slave,
Freddie Wadling,
Soft Cell,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pagans,
Massinfluence,
Lalann,
Oblivians,
Boogie Down Productions,
Wally Richardson,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Altered Images,
Drive Like Jehu,
EPMD,
Minutemen,
June Days,
James Chance & The Contortions,
China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis, China Crisis.
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.