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 Guinea-Bissau and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Organ to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Das Ding. All the underground hits.
All Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Carl Craig 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blackbyrds,
Crispy Ambulance,
This Heat,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Jeff Mills,
Graham Central Station,
Rakim,
Vladislav Delay,
June of 44,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Slave,
The Monks,
The Fall,
Moby Grape,
Dennis Brown,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Rufus Thomas,
Gang Starr,
Technova,
Man Parrish,
Marshall Jefferson,
Little Man,
The Moleskins,
Talk Talk,
Make Up,
Bizarre Inc.,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lalo Schifrin,
Severed Heads,
The Trojans,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Davy DMX,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bobby Womack,
R.M.O.,
Eric Dolphy,
Bill Near,
Andrew Hill,
Popol Vuh,
Delta 5,
David Bowie,
The Index,
Gil Scott Heron,
Derrick May,
AZ,
Wasted Youth,
Avey Tare,
La Düsseldorf,
Circle Jerks,
Lou Christie,
Eli Mardock,
Black Flag,
Magma,
Erykah Badu,
K-Klass,
Reuben Wilson,
Robert Wyatt,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bad Manners,
Bobby Sherman,
Deadbeat,
UT, UT, UT, UT.
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.