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 Uganda and from Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Seeds to the crunk 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 Gap Band. All the underground hits.
All The Real Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Sam Rivers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Y Pants,
The Zeros,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Iggy Pop,
Vainqueur,
Clear Light,
Maleditus Sound,
Nation of Ulysses,
Gabor Szabo,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Bluetip,
The Evens,
Moss Icon,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Roxy Music,
Drexciya,
the Normal,
Q and Not U,
Barclay James Harvest,
Letta Mbulu,
Icehouse,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Amon Düül II,
Suburban Knight,
Livin' Joy,
Lou Christie,
Newcleus,
LL Cool J,
Radiopuhelimet,
Dave Gahan,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Johnny Osbourne,
Rakim,
Intrusion,
Jeff Mills,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Skatalites,
Model 500,
the Human League,
Byron Stingily,
Peter and Kerry,
Frankie Knuckles,
Kool Moe Dee,
Slave,
Crime,
Traffic Nightmare,
Donald Byrd,
Scientists,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tubeway Army,
Michelle Simonal,
Tropical Tobacco,
Jesper Dahlback,
Marcia Griffiths,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Andrew Hill,
The Birthday Party,
Simply Red,
Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division, Joy Division.
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.