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 Poland and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Eyeless In Gaza to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Joey Negro. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Babytalk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Toni Rubio,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Glenn Branca,
Malaria!,
Nas,
Rites of Spring,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Can,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Andrew Hill,
Pulsallama,
New Age Steppers,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bootsy Collins,
Piero Umiliani,
8 Eyed Spy,
Black Flag,
Funkadelic,
Freddie Wadling,
Erasure,
Kevin Saunderson,
Blake Baxter,
Alton Ellis,
Colin Newman,
Black Pus,
Das Ding,
A Flock of Seagulls,
In Retrospect,
The Standells,
The Tremeloes,
The Evens,
Spandau Ballet,
Electric Prunes,
Echospace,
Gastr Del Sol,
Gichy Dan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Tubeway Army,
The Red Krayola,
Avey Tare,
The Smoke,
the Association,
Lower 48,
Robert Görl,
Section 25,
Babytalk,
Black Sheep,
Ice-T,
Jandek,
Anakelly,
June of 44,
Leonard Cohen,
Khruangbin,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Golliwogs,
Au Pairs,
Carl Craig,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Darondo,
Chris & Cosey,
Arthur Verocai,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.