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 Madagascar and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Soulsonic Force to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 A Certain Ratio. All the underground hits.
All Crash Course in Science tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ponytail record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bootsy Collins,
Eric Copeland,
The Invisible,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Zapp,
The United States of America,
Howard Jones,
Arthur Verocai,
Dennis Brown,
Saccharine Trust,
Joey Negro,
Groovy Waters,
Model 500,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Anthony Braxton,
The Electric Prunes,
Slick Rick,
ABBA,
Massinfluence,
Ken Boothe,
Animal Collective,
David Axelrod,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Charles Mingus,
World's Most,
Japan,
The Selecter,
Alison Limerick,
Todd Terry,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Roger Hodgson,
Mary Jane Girls,
Brothers Johnson,
The Litter,
The Raincoats,
KRS-One,
Ronan,
Sarah Menescal,
Rufus Thomas,
The Names,
Jeru the Damaja,
Gong,
Icehouse,
Pere Ubu,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Slits,
Dave Gahan,
Buzzcocks,
The Divine Comedy,
Cal Tjader,
Joy Division,
Jesper Dahlback,
Excepter,
Camouflage,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Black Flag,
The Barracudas,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.