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 Angola and from Beijing.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Japan to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aural Exciters 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funky Four + One record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
OOIOO,
Stockholm Monsters,
Fat Boys,
Don Cherry,
Scott Walker,
Chris & Cosey,
Henry Cow,
The Golliwogs,
Swans,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Dirtbombs,
Pantytec,
Susan Cadogan,
Byron Stingily,
Yusef Lateef,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Silicon Teens,
The Zeros,
Stiv Bators,
Bootsy Collins,
Arab on Radar,
The Toasters,
Trumans Water,
Derrick May,
Wally Richardson,
Supertramp,
Grey Daturas,
Fugazi,
UT,
Donny Hathaway,
Soul II Soul,
Oblivians,
Eric Copeland,
Kenny Larkin,
Soft Cell,
Bill Near,
Jerry's Kids,
Hashim,
The Grass Roots,
Alton Ellis,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Ossler,
Lungfish,
Ohio Players,
Nico,
The Knickerbockers,
Lalo Schifrin,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Carl Craig,
The Last Poets,
The Fire Engines,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sixth Finger,
Sonic Youth,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
June of 44,
Albert Ayler,
The Moleskins,
Colin Newman,
Nik Kershaw,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Detroit Cobras,
Grauzone,
Rekid, Rekid, Rekid, Rekid.
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.