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 Italy and from Glasgow.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 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 The Grass Roots to the jazz 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 Bush Tetras. All the underground hits.
All Rotary Connection tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Parrish 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Modern Lovers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Womack,
Wire,
Marshall Jefferson,
Bob Dylan,
Sound Behaviour,
The Cure,
Gang Starr,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Alton Ellis,
Con Funk Shun,
Newcleus,
Visage,
Patti Smith,
EPMD,
Big Daddy Kane,
Shuggie Otis,
Surgeon,
The Fugs,
Roxette,
Fad Gadget,
MC5,
Radio Birdman,
Kas Product,
Godley & Creme,
Thompson Twins,
Saccharine Trust,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Khruangbin,
Leonard Cohen,
Jeff Lynne,
The American Breed,
Motorama,
The Leaves,
The Motions,
Joe Smooth,
OOIOO,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Yellowson,
The Monochrome Set,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Walker Brothers,
Quantec,
Harmonia,
Janne Schatter,
The Smoke,
Inner City,
Trumans Water,
Hot Snakes,
The Monks,
Country Teasers,
The Martian,
China Crisis,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
the Fania All-Stars,
Lou Reed,
Soulsonic Force,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Dual Sessions,
Rotary Connection,
Bluetip,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.