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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Tokyo.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Main Source to the dance 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Depeche Mode record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Amon Düül II,
Jesper Dahlback,
Hoover,
Angry Samoans,
Cymande,
Wire,
Prince Buster,
Theoretical Girls,
Dorothy Ashby,
Shuggie Otis,
Marine Girls,
Lou Reed,
Deepchord,
Roger Hodgson,
Buzzcocks,
The Trojans,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Cure,
Animal Collective,
Radio Birdman,
Suburban Knight,
Andrew Hill,
Unwound,
Marc Almond,
Schoolly D,
Mad Mike,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
kango's stein massive,
Black Sheep,
Rufus Thomas,
LL Cool J,
New Age Steppers,
Rod Modell,
Reagan Youth,
The Slackers,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bauhaus,
Carl Craig,
The Monks,
ABBA,
The Young Rascals,
Susan Cadogan,
Derrick May,
DNA,
Amazonics,
Hashim,
Niagra,
The Smiths,
Soul II Soul,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Tubeway Army,
Drive Like Jehu,
Fugazi,
The Walker Brothers,
Mission of Burma,
Janne Schatter,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Gun Club,
Excepter,
Ten City, Ten City, Ten City, Ten City.
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.