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 Swaziland and from Johannesburg.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 T. Rex to the techno 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 London Community Gospel Choir. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every EPMD record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Motions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
the Sonics,
X-Ray Spex,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Blake Baxter,
John Cale,
Aswad,
China Crisis,
Sun City Girls,
The Gap Band,
Delta 5,
Dual Sessions,
Khruangbin,
Don Cherry,
Derrick May,
The Smoke,
Lakeside,
Letta Mbulu,
Radiohead,
The Durutti Column,
Bad Manners,
The Fuzztones,
Bobby Byrd,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Mad Mike,
Nation of Ulysses,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Skatalites,
The Fall,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sugar Minott,
U.S. Maple,
The Monks,
Peter and Kerry,
Harpers Bizarre,
Skarface,
Deadbeat,
Kayak,
Basic Channel,
Qualms,
Soul II Soul,
Ossler,
Visage,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Black Pus,
Carl Craig,
Au Pairs,
Main Source,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Mary Jane Girls,
Amon Düül II,
Cymande,
Marc Almond,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tres Demented,
The Evens,
Frankie Knuckles,
Boz Scaggs,
Hot Snakes,
In Retrospect,
Jerry's Kids,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.