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 East Timor and from Glasgow.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Dawn Penn to the punk 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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Bush Tetras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Malaria!,
Bizarre Inc.,
Deadbeat,
The Star Department,
Prince Buster,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pole,
DJ Style,
This Heat,
Byron Stingily,
Colin Newman,
Lalann,
The Fire Engines,
Donald Byrd,
T. Rex,
La Düsseldorf,
MDC,
The Saints,
Swell Maps,
Marcia Griffiths,
Erykah Badu,
the Human League,
Black Bananas,
Moss Icon,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Freddie Wadling,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Dead Boys,
Charles Mingus,
R.M.O.,
Excepter,
Y Pants,
X-102,
Frankie Knuckles,
Gang of Four,
D'Angelo,
Siglo XX,
John Holt,
Scrapy,
Amon Düül,
The Victims,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ludus,
Jandek,
F. McDonald,
The Knickerbockers,
Mo-Dettes,
The Monks,
Marmalade,
the Sonics,
Slave,
Traffic Nightmare,
Main Source,
The Smiths,
The Misunderstood,
Supertramp,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Minutemen,
Black Flag,
The Leaves,
Massinfluence,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.