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 Yemen and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Easy Going to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All Audionom tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 mellotron and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Dorothy Ashby,
The United States of America,
Bronski Beat,
The Knickerbockers,
Sound Behaviour,
Shuggie Otis,
Marmalade,
Derrick May,
Colin Newman,
Fat Boys,
Alice Coltrane,
Sight & Sound,
Dave Gahan,
The Count Five,
Jacques Brel,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Outsiders,
Joey Negro,
Jawbox,
The Slits,
Panda Bear,
EPMD,
Bobby Sherman,
Black Flag,
Idris Muhammad,
Joy Division,
Harpers Bizarre,
Minny Pops,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Brand Nubian,
World's Most,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rapeman,
The Happenings,
Organ,
Thompson Twins,
Donald Byrd,
Curtis Mayfield,
Section 25,
Malaria!,
Jeff Mills,
The Pop Group,
Sister Nancy,
Von Mondo,
Livin' Joy,
Oblivians,
Bill Wells,
Bauhaus,
Bad Manners,
New York Dolls,
Popol Vuh,
Tomorrow,
Scientists,
The Beau Brummels,
Jerry's Kids,
Vladislav Delay,
John Lydon,
Eric Copeland,
Ludus,
Oneida,
Make Up,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.