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 Mauritius and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Sao Paulo.
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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the guitar 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 Traffic Nightmare to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The American Breed. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Al Stewart 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young & Crazy Horse record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
La Düsseldorf,
Yaz,
Erykah Badu,
Anthony Braxton,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Joyce Sims,
Don Cherry,
Juan Atkins,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Iggy Pop,
Cymande,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Zero Boys,
China Crisis,
Motorama,
the Association,
Clear Light,
The Martian,
Animal Collective,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Young Marble Giants,
The Dave Clark Five,
Patti Smith,
Gang Gang Dance,
Porter Ricks,
Magazine,
Arthur Verocai,
Anakelly,
The Monks,
Janne Schatter,
Loose Ends,
Chris & Cosey,
The Count Five,
MC5,
The Music Machine,
Rapeman,
The Litter,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Suicide,
John Coltrane,
The Vogues,
The Buckinghams,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Jacques Brel,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
the Human League,
David Bowie,
Terrestrial Tones,
KRS-One,
Scrapy,
Nation of Ulysses,
Barrington Levy,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Newcleus,
Main Source,
Byron Stingily,
Outsiders,
The Zeros,
The Busters,
Rufus Thomas,
Idris Muhammad,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.