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 Belize and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 ABC to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 DJ Style. All the underground hits.
All Man Eating Sloth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Das Ding record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacob Miller record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Minutemen,
Q and Not U,
Hot Snakes,
The Residents,
Drexciya,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Hashim,
Organ,
B.T. Express,
Kaleidoscope,
Sister Nancy,
Fat Boys,
Altered Images,
Monolake,
Anthony Braxton,
X-Ray Spex,
Skarface,
Main Source,
Piero Umiliani,
Alton Ellis,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Aloha Tigers,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Iggy Pop,
FM Einheit,
The Count Five,
Aural Exciters,
Nirvana,
Make Up,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Zero Boys,
Television,
The Walker Brothers,
Eurythmics,
T. Rex,
The Buckinghams,
Delon & Dalcan,
Cybotron,
Radiopuhelimet,
Nils Olav,
June of 44,
Tears for Fears,
Duran Duran,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Star Department,
Shoche,
Ten City,
Dual Sessions,
Country Teasers,
Marcia Griffiths,
OOIOO,
Vladislav Delay,
Ultravox,
the Slits,
Minor Threat,
The Cowsills,
L. Decosne,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.