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 Congo and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Milan.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Babytalk to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Blues Magoos. All the underground hits.
All Icehouse tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Men They Couldn't Hang record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
Drexciya,
Nirvana,
The Fall,
Fugazi,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Blackbyrds,
Darondo,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kas Product,
The Gladiators,
Newcleus,
Television Personalities,
DNA,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Althea and Donna,
Pantaleimon,
Organ,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lou Reed,
Rites of Spring,
MC5,
Average White Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Man Parrish,
Johnny Clarke,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Knickerbockers,
Audionom,
The Tremeloes,
The Dead C,
K-Klass,
Nation of Ulysses,
the Association,
Severed Heads,
Mars,
Laurel Aitken,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Angry Samoans,
Lyres,
Cecil Taylor,
Reagan Youth,
the Swans,
Joey Negro,
Public Enemy,
Delon & Dalcan,
Ponytail,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Soulsonic Force,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ohio Players,
Minor Threat,
The Techniques,
The Alarm Clocks,
Josef K,
Lightning Bolt,
Eli Mardock,
Idris Muhammad,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.