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 Zimbabwe and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Goldenarms to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 the Human League. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vainqueur 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Coltrane record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Swans,
Nas,
Reuben Wilson,
Tom Boy,
Mary Jane Girls,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Roxy Music,
Marc Almond,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Iggy Pop,
Maleditus Sound,
Hot Snakes,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Residents,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Tears for Fears,
Eddi Front,
The Evens,
Todd Terry,
The Tremeloes,
Tropical Tobacco,
Liliput,
Funkadelic,
David Bowie,
Rotary Connection,
Chris Corsano,
LL Cool J,
Amon Düül II,
Ituana,
Dennis Brown,
Alton Ellis,
Qualms,
John Coltrane,
Agent Orange,
the Normal,
Robert Hood,
Ten City,
The Alarm Clocks,
Scan 7,
Wolf Eyes,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Q65,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Siglo XX,
In Retrospect,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Zeros,
Echospace,
Suicide,
Little Man,
David Axelrod,
The Golliwogs,
Black Bananas,
Barry Ungar,
Goldenarms,
The Star Department,
Blancmange,
X-101,
Organ,
Pagans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.