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 Papua New Guinea and from Lille.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Arthur Verocai to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echospace 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gong,
Bob Dylan,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bronski Beat,
Jacob Miller,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Animal Collective,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mr. Review,
Yellowson,
the Slits,
Q65,
MC5,
The Modern Lovers,
Bush Tetras,
Whodini,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Seeds,
Intrusion,
The Litter,
Pharoah Sanders,
In Retrospect,
Franke,
Alphaville,
Easy Going,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Drexciya,
Bobby Womack,
Cameo,
Joyce Sims,
Pole,
Black Moon,
Electric Prunes,
Technova,
June of 44,
Excepter,
Rhythm & Sound,
Fatback Band,
The Busters,
Michelle Simonal,
The Techniques,
Tom Boy,
Bobby Byrd,
Henry Cow,
The Cowsills,
Saccharine Trust,
Mandrill,
Essential Logic,
OOIOO,
Cecil Taylor,
The Young Rascals,
The Leaves,
Roy Ayers,
E-Dancer,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Crispy Ambulance,
Suicide,
Television,
Television Personalities,
The Flesh Eaters,
Traffic Nightmare,
Minor Threat,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.