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 Macedonia and from Manila.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Seeds to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Danielle Patucci. All the underground hits.
All Gang Starr tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every London Community Gospel Choir 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cluster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Gichy Dan,
Black Pus,
The Slits,
The Shadows of Knight,
Robert Wyatt,
Dawn Penn,
Reuben Wilson,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Parry Music,
Prince Buster,
Matthew Bourne,
The Zeros,
The Star Department,
Rosa Yemen,
The Black Dice,
Patti Smith,
48th St. Collective,
Monks,
Boogie Down Productions,
Tim Buckley,
The Misunderstood,
X-Ray Spex,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Skarface,
Blake Baxter,
Blossom Toes,
Bush Tetras,
Sixth Finger,
EPMD,
Agitation Free,
Ice-T,
The Fugs,
The Remains,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Charles Mingus,
Godley & Creme,
Half Japanese,
The Happenings,
Royal Trux,
Y Pants,
Yusef Lateef,
Metal Thangz,
Avey Tare,
Colin Newman,
a-ha,
The Toasters,
Hashim,
Moss Icon,
The Blues Magoos,
Popol Vuh,
Flipper,
Eden Ahbez,
Anakelly,
The Count Five,
Rhythm & Sound,
Visage,
Isaac Hayes,
Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti, Fela Kuti.
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.