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 Australia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Hong Kong.
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 theremin 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 Bobby Sherman to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Heavy D & The Boyz. All the underground hits.
All Girls At Our Best! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Jeff Mills,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gang Green,
Donny Hathaway,
The Real Kids,
Lightning Bolt,
Sexual Harrassment,
Black Flag,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Buzzcocks,
Iggy Pop,
Flipper,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nirvana,
The Fortunes,
the Human League,
B.T. Express,
The Knickerbockers,
Japan,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Dead C,
Rakim,
Patti Smith,
The Offenders,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
8 Eyed Spy,
Crash Course in Science,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Angry Samoans,
MDC,
Cameo,
Agitation Free,
Vladislav Delay,
Banda Bassotti,
Judy Mowatt,
Yazoo,
Black Sheep,
Eve St. Jones,
Cheater Slicks,
Lyres,
X-Ray Spex,
Lungfish,
Colin Newman,
The Electric Prunes,
Porter Ricks,
Boredoms,
Bootsy Collins,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Black Dice,
Pharoah Sanders,
MC5,
Reuben Wilson,
Ken Boothe,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Tommy Roe,
Liliput,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.