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 Dominican Republic and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Babytalk to the rap 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 Kurtis Blow. All the underground hits.
All The Chocolate Watch Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Motorama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Susan Cadogan,
Todd Rundgren,
Faust,
The Busters,
Spandau Ballet,
Circle Jerks,
Essential Logic,
Grandmaster Flash,
Freddie Wadling,
The Victims,
Fear,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kaleidoscope,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Goldenarms,
Infiniti,
Magazine,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Shadows of Knight,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Dead C,
The Toasters,
Arcadia,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Basic Channel,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Donald Byrd,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ronan,
Babytalk,
ABBA,
Slick Rick,
The Electric Prunes,
Rhythm & Sound,
Peter and Kerry,
Sugar Minott,
Minny Pops,
Porter Ricks,
Soft Cell,
Joy Division,
the Sonics,
Severed Heads,
The Barracudas,
Brand Nubian,
Glambeats Corp.,
MDC,
Camberwell Now,
Adolescents,
Panda Bear,
The Offenders,
Yaz,
Crispy Ambulance,
Buzzcocks,
The Leaves,
Marcia Griffiths,
Khruangbin,
K-Klass,
Scan 7,
Minutemen,
Neu!, Neu!, Neu!, Neu!.
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.