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 Somalia and from Delhi.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Lyon.
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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Essential Logic to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lindisfarne. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slackers 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The J.B.'s record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
New Age Steppers,
LL Cool J,
Bill Wells,
X-Ray Spex,
In Retrospect,
Lou Christie,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lucky Dragons,
Nirvana,
Model 500,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Modern Lovers,
Buzzcocks,
Rotary Connection,
Warsaw,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Guru Guru,
The Offenders,
Cheater Slicks,
The Blackbyrds,
Morten Harket,
Toni Rubio,
the Sonics,
Thee Headcoats,
a-ha,
Susan Cadogan,
Howard Jones,
DJ Sneak,
The Smoke,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Television Personalities,
Deepchord,
cv313,
The Slits,
Can,
Blake Baxter,
The Red Krayola,
The Cure,
David Axelrod,
Camberwell Now,
Niagra,
Black Moon,
Todd Terry,
The Pop Group,
Slave,
Los Fastidios,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Glenn Branca,
Sexual Harrassment,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Birthday Party,
Eli Mardock,
Lalo Schifrin,
Aural Exciters,
Sandy B,
John Cale,
Suicide,
MDC,
Man Parrish,
Jeff Mills,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.