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 Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Beijing.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Cymande to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Japan. All the underground hits.
All Tommy Roe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alton Ellis,
Sight & Sound,
The Searchers,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Make Up,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pantytec,
Absolute Body Control,
Eurythmics,
Grauzone,
Amon Düül II,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The J.B.'s,
Jacques Brel,
Khruangbin,
Lightning Bolt,
Funkadelic,
June of 44,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Soft Cell,
Sällskapet,
Motorama,
Fela Kuti,
Von Mondo,
8 Eyed Spy,
Interpol,
UT,
Joensuu 1685,
Rufus Thomas,
Maleditus Sound,
Connie Case,
Masters at Work,
Pere Ubu,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Cal Tjader,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Oblivians,
The Blues Magoos,
The Monks,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sister Nancy,
The Misunderstood,
Kurtis Blow,
Warsaw,
LL Cool J,
Gang of Four,
D'Angelo,
The Dave Clark Five,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Leonard Cohen,
Fatback Band,
Simply Red,
The Vogues,
Hardrive,
Dave Gahan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Happenings,
Icehouse,
Mary Jane Girls,
Dawn Penn,
Wasted Youth,
Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims, Joyce Sims.
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.