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 Sierra Leone and from Halifax.
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 Beijing and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin 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 The Cramps to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Rekid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harry Pussy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quando Quango record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smoke,
The Fire Engines,
Q65,
Qualms,
Crime,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Michelle Simonal,
Fela Kuti,
Ossler,
Kaleidoscope,
Ludus,
Groovy Waters,
Lindisfarne,
Quantec,
The Young Rascals,
Glenn Branca,
F. McDonald,
Eli Mardock,
Smog,
Swans,
Panda Bear,
Deadbeat,
Charles Mingus,
Pere Ubu,
Colin Newman,
Shoche,
The Fall,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sandy B,
The Gories,
The Sonics,
ABBA,
Alison Limerick,
The Zeros,
The Slackers,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jawbox,
Neil Young,
Deakin,
X-101,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Saints,
Gabor Szabo,
Aaron Thompson,
Thompson Twins,
Minny Pops,
The Misunderstood,
Warren Ellis,
Underground Resistance,
The Monks,
X-102,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Circle Jerks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Marine Girls,
Albert Ayler,
Absolute Body Control,
Connie Case,
Toni Rubio,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang of Four,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.