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 Papua New Guinea and from Milan.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Ken Boothe to the grunge 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 Sad Lovers and Giants. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dave Clark Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Massinfluence record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare,
Don Cherry,
Alice Coltrane,
Charles Mingus,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Saints,
Vladislav Delay,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Robert Wyatt,
Stereo Dub,
Goldenarms,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Grey Daturas,
Aswad,
Rekid,
The Gun Club,
The Velvet Underground,
The Victims,
Heaven 17,
Barry Ungar,
Anakelly,
Amon Düül,
Soft Cell,
The Index,
Lucky Dragons,
Jeru the Damaja,
June of 44,
Matthew Bourne,
Franke,
David Bowie,
Nas,
John Coltrane,
Echospace,
Eric Dolphy,
Technova,
Severed Heads,
H. Thieme,
Black Moon,
Amazonics,
Derrick Morgan,
Swell Maps,
Buzzcocks,
Bauhaus,
Eden Ahbez,
The Blues Magoos,
Excepter,
Gang Gang Dance,
Tubeway Army,
Scratch Acid,
Mark Hollis,
Patti Smith,
Average White Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Black Sheep,
The Invisible,
Mantronix,
Sex Pistols,
Wasted Youth,
Glenn Branca,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The New Christs,
Malaria!,
Faust, Faust, Faust, Faust.
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.