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 Kenya and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 Columbus and Jakarta.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 JFA to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Ultramagnetic MC's. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crispian St. Peters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Panda Bear,
Hot Snakes,
R.M.O.,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Vogues,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Joey Negro,
Silicon Teens,
Eric Dolphy,
Television,
The Knickerbockers,
Roxy Music,
James White and The Blacks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Skatalites,
Prince Buster,
AZ,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Raincoats,
The Slackers,
Brand Nubian,
The Names,
The Birthday Party,
Audionom,
Lou Christie,
Gang Starr,
Tres Demented,
Slave,
The Star Department,
The Dirtbombs,
Massinfluence,
Scrapy,
Wire,
Neil Young,
Essential Logic,
Agitation Free,
Idris Muhammad,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Max Romeo,
The Smoke,
Das Ding,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Junior Murvin,
Fear,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Unrelated Segments,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Little Man,
Young Marble Giants,
The Grass Roots,
Letta Mbulu,
Tommy Roe,
The Real Kids,
The Leaves,
L. Decosne,
Bad Manners,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gil Scott Heron,
Robert Hood,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Shoche,
Gang Green,
Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi.
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.