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 Madagascar and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Masters at Work to the grunge 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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All Derrick Morgan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crispian St. Peters,
Skarface,
Prince Buster,
Roy Ayers,
Agitation Free,
Aloha Tigers,
The Tremeloes,
Tubeway Army,
Banda Bassotti,
Angry Samoans,
D'Angelo,
Bang On A Can,
Pharoah Sanders,
Isaac Hayes,
Marcia Griffiths,
the Soft Cell,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Minor Threat,
Albert Ayler,
Gabor Szabo,
F. McDonald,
Masters at Work,
Blossom Toes,
The Zeros,
Jesper Dahlback,
H. Thieme,
Das Ding,
The Smoke,
Donny Hathaway,
Camouflage,
Nik Kershaw,
Lou Christie,
The Blues Magoos,
Reuben Wilson,
Tomorrow,
Dennis Brown,
Warsaw,
Ten City,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Fela Kuti,
Judy Mowatt,
Mandrill,
MC5,
Robert Wyatt,
Barclay James Harvest,
the Slits,
Massinfluence,
Bobby Byrd,
Barbara Tucker,
Sister Nancy,
Gregory Isaacs,
Yusef Lateef,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
John Lydon,
Tom Boy,
Suburban Knight,
Model 500,
Kayak,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Human League,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget, Fad Gadget.
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.