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 Korea North and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 rhodes 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 Joensuu 1685 to the rock 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 MC5. All the underground hits.
All Magma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
The Victims,
The Grass Roots,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rekid,
The Pretty Things,
Public Enemy,
Darondo,
Frankie Knuckles,
Suburban Knight,
Joey Negro,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
James White and The Blacks,
Masters at Work,
Gang of Four,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Sex Pistols,
The Stooges,
Henry Cow,
Agitation Free,
Traffic Nightmare,
Au Pairs,
Silicon Teens,
La Düsseldorf,
Godley & Creme,
Soul II Soul,
The Standells,
The Electric Prunes,
T. Rex,
Minny Pops,
The Count Five,
Lucky Dragons,
Swell Maps,
The Blues Magoos,
The Residents,
Jeff Mills,
Ultra Naté,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
In Retrospect,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Techniques,
Animal Collective,
Bobby Sherman,
Kerrie Biddell,
Eve St. Jones,
Ronnie Foster,
Laurel Aitken,
8 Eyed Spy,
FM Einheit,
Tom Boy,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ultimate Spinach,
Alison Limerick,
Moby Grape,
Adolescents,
The Last Poets,
Dennis Brown,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Litter, The Litter, The Litter, The Litter.
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.