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 Mali and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Lou Christie to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Association record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Holt,
David Bowie,
Second Layer,
Gerry Rafferty,
Nico,
Little Man,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nas,
Nick Fraelich,
Alphaville,
Ponytail,
One Last Wish,
Oneida,
Erykah Badu,
Fugazi,
Dawn Penn,
The Beau Brummels,
The Sound,
Todd Rundgren,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jerry's Kids,
Girls At Our Best!,
Banda Bassotti,
Robert Wyatt,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Boredoms,
Johnny Osbourne,
Moebius,
Kenny Larkin,
China Crisis,
Dark Day,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Robert Hood,
Rekid,
Anthony Braxton,
A Certain Ratio,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
the Slits,
The Zeros,
Glambeats Corp.,
Pantytec,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Leaves,
Sandy B,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Litter,
Prince Buster,
Pole,
Nik Kershaw,
Dead Boys,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Electric Prunes,
Pierre Henry,
The Saints,
Fluxion,
Soft Cell,
Unrelated Segments,
Letta Mbulu,
Television Personalities,
Clear Light,
Model 500, Model 500, Model 500, Model 500.
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.