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 Peru and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Lille.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 June of 44. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mark Hollis 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Grass Roots record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sparks,
The Slackers,
Mo-Dettes,
Drive Like Jehu,
Cecil Taylor,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Inner City,
Eric Copeland,
Sarah Menescal,
Archie Shepp,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Girls At Our Best!,
Johnny Clarke,
Patti Smith,
B.T. Express,
Reagan Youth,
Kevin Saunderson,
John Cale,
Toni Rubio,
The Slits,
Oblivians,
Slick Rick,
Derrick May,
Scan 7,
Janne Schatter,
Theoretical Girls,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Cheater Slicks,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Sonics,
Siglo XX,
Marcia Griffiths,
Black Bananas,
Franke,
Mary Jane Girls,
World's Most,
Television Personalities,
Soul II Soul,
Eric Dolphy,
The Raincoats,
Gang of Four,
Mantronix,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Albert Ayler,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bang On A Can,
The Music Machine,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Skatalites,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Max Romeo,
FM Einheit,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Marshall Jefferson,
Henry Cow,
Peter & Gordon,
Neu!,
The Doors,
Radiopuhelimet,
Yazoo,
Sun Ra,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.