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 Denmark and from Spokane.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Roy Ayers to the disco 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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Agitation Free tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Accadde A,
Black Flag,
The Selecter,
Tres Demented,
Subhumans,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Can,
PIL,
Pylon,
Kool Moe Dee,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Skarface,
Thee Headcoats,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sun Ra,
Byron Stingily,
Little Man,
New York Dolls,
The Cramps,
The Shadows of Knight,
Henry Cow,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bluetip,
Nick Fraelich,
Flamin' Groovies,
Tropical Tobacco,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Bad Manners,
the Fania All-Stars,
Shoche,
Panda Bear,
Guru Guru,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Eric Dolphy,
Albert Ayler,
Delta 5,
The Victims,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Tim Buckley,
The Stooges,
Graham Central Station,
Lalo Schifrin,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Blossom Toes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Altered Images,
Sonic Youth,
Camberwell Now,
The Angels of Light,
Robert Hood,
Slave,
Shuggie Otis,
Radiohead,
Ice-T,
Jeff Mills,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Crispy Ambulance,
the Swans,
Dark Day,
Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players, Ohio Players.
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.