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 Venezuela and from Accra.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 synthesizer 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 Shadows of Knight to the grime 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Charles Mingus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Babytalk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Slits,
The Walker Brothers,
Terry Callier,
The Birthday Party,
Echospace,
The Misunderstood,
The Slackers,
The Martian,
Minnie Riperton,
John Foxx,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Toni Rubio,
Robert Wyatt,
Juan Atkins,
ABC,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Johnny Clarke,
Andrew Hill,
FM Einheit,
Quando Quango,
The Blues Magoos,
Traffic Nightmare,
Black Bananas,
Loose Ends,
Tres Demented,
E-Dancer,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
the Swans,
Pere Ubu,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Tommy Roe,
The Modern Lovers,
The Divine Comedy,
Ituana,
Bang On A Can,
Niagra,
John Coltrane,
New York Dolls,
Sexual Harrassment,
Black Pus,
Connie Case,
Q65,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Soft Cell,
Youth Brigade,
Sugar Minott,
Jacob Miller,
The Monks,
Jeff Mills,
Marmalade,
Gabor Szabo,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Skatalites,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ralphi Rosario,
Donald Byrd,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cluster,
Crispy Ambulance,
Marc Almond,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.