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 Nigeria and from Bologna.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 clarinet 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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo to the electroclash 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 L. Decosne. All the underground hits.
All Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Bourne 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Essential Logic,
The Barracudas,
Gang Gang Dance,
Pantytec,
Crispian St. Peters,
Morten Harket,
The Cowsills,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Peter & Gordon,
The Misunderstood,
MC5,
Bobby Byrd,
The Smiths,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Q and Not U,
Television,
Con Funk Shun,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Fluxion,
Alphaville,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Slackers,
Erykah Badu,
The United States of America,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
ABC,
Skaos,
Sun City Girls,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Funkadelic,
Absolute Body Control,
H. Thieme,
Lower 48,
The Index,
Tears for Fears,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
John Coltrane,
Matthew Bourne,
Lucky Dragons,
Spoonie Gee,
Rapeman,
The Blues Magoos,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
the Soft Cell,
the Sonics,
Soft Cell,
10cc,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Crime,
Soulsonic Force,
The Remains,
The Saints,
DJ Sneak,
Excepter,
Howard Jones,
F. McDonald,
Pole,
June Days,
The Walker Brothers,
Section 25, Section 25, Section 25, Section 25.
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.