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 Portugal and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Lou Reed 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 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to the dance 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 Siouxsie and the Banshees. All the underground hits.
All Angels of Light & Akron/Family tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roxette record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deadbeat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeru the Damaja,
The Barracudas,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
John Cale,
The Last Poets,
Henry Cow,
New Order,
Wolf Eyes,
Black Sheep,
The Golliwogs,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Make Up,
David Axelrod,
Lungfish,
The Monks,
Erasure,
Steve Hackett,
Spoonie Gee,
The Pop Group,
Funky Four + One,
Goldenarms,
Pantaleimon,
Delta 5,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Moebius,
Buzzcocks,
the Soft Cell,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gang Starr,
DJ Sneak,
Prince Buster,
Pulsallama,
Bob Dylan,
Jimmy McGriff,
Dennis Brown,
Warsaw,
Scion,
Nik Kershaw,
The Litter,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Hardrive,
The Tremeloes,
Jandek,
Morten Harket,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nico,
T.S.O.L.,
Bizarre Inc.,
Boz Scaggs,
The Invisible,
Khruangbin,
Archie Shepp,
Metal Thangz,
The Music Machine,
Monolake,
The Saints,
Duran Duran,
The Five Americans,
The Motions,
Harry Pussy,
Nation of Ulysses,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.