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 Malawi and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Selecter to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Max Romeo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New Age Steppers,
Patti Smith,
Au Pairs,
Donny Hathaway,
Fela Kuti,
Amon Düül II,
The Divine Comedy,
These Immortal Souls,
Unwound,
Bobby Womack,
The Pretty Things,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Lee Hazlewood,
Zero Boys,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sam Rivers,
Eric B and Rakim,
Depeche Mode,
Quadrant,
Henry Cow,
Excepter,
Steve Hackett,
The Gun Club,
Buzzcocks,
Gang Starr,
Lou Reed,
Charles Mingus,
The Shadows of Knight,
Faust,
Rod Modell,
Spoonie Gee,
Sarah Menescal,
Max Romeo,
Glenn Branca,
Bootsy Collins,
Monolake,
the Bar-Kays,
Sparks,
Crime,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Tubeway Army,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cybotron,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Doobie Brothers,
Prince Buster,
Dawn Penn,
MDC,
Cecil Taylor,
Eric Dolphy,
The Flesh Eaters,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mars,
Duran Duran,
Eden Ahbez,
Davy DMX,
Y Pants,
Dual Sessions,
Bauhaus,
Minutemen,
Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding.
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.