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 Burkina and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 2001.
I was there at the first Tiga show in Montreal.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 chamberlin 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 Accadde A to the techno 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiohead record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Avey Tare,
F. McDonald,
Barbara Tucker,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Minutemen,
Max Romeo,
Donny Hathaway,
Byron Stingily,
CMW,
Archie Shepp,
Soft Machine,
Ludus,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Red Krayola,
Boogie Down Productions,
Rapeman,
Animal Collective,
Angry Samoans,
The Fire Engines,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kool Moe Dee,
Arcadia,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
James White and The Blacks,
Moss Icon,
JFA,
Rosa Yemen,
Electric Prunes,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alton Ellis,
Royal Trux,
The Slits,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Human League,
The Evens,
Carl Craig,
Depeche Mode,
The Gladiators,
Slave,
Gabor Szabo,
Lindisfarne,
Sex Pistols,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobby Sherman,
Jerry's Kids,
PIL,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
the Slits,
Kerrie Biddell,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Pussy Galore,
The Names,
The Smiths,
Whodini,
These Immortal Souls,
The Victims,
Oblivians,
Barrington Levy,
The Cure,
Minor Threat,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.