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 Guatemala and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 organ 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 Moss Icon to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Con Funk Shun. All the underground hits.
All Fluxion tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Wake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
John Cale,
Mark Hollis,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Darondo,
Charles Mingus,
Surgeon,
Unrelated Segments,
UT,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Cramps,
Joe Finger,
Spandau Ballet,
X-Ray Spex,
Shuggie Otis,
Moby Grape,
D'Angelo,
The Happenings,
The Blues Magoos,
Animal Collective,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Mad Mike,
Andrew Hill,
Groovy Waters,
Mary Jane Girls,
the Sonics,
Pylon,
Brick,
Cameo,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Fear,
The Names,
Piero Umiliani,
The Smiths,
Basic Channel,
the Normal,
Faraquet,
Public Enemy,
Amazonics,
The United States of America,
Unwound,
Hardrive,
Sound Behaviour,
Iggy Pop,
Motorama,
The Dirtbombs,
Half Japanese,
Patti Smith,
Scott Walker,
Royal Trux,
Bronski Beat,
The Move,
T. Rex,
Kayak,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Terry Callier,
Derrick Morgan,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
cv313,
The Techniques,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.