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 Paraguay and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Marine Girls to the rock 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 Lou Reed. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gian Franco Pienzio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moebius,
Ice-T,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Theoretical Girls,
The Slackers,
Suburban Knight,
Radio Birdman,
Eric Dolphy,
The Motions,
Black Moon,
Hardrive,
The Evens,
Jacques Brel,
JFA,
Negative Approach,
Vladislav Delay,
The Standells,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eden Ahbez,
The Fugs,
The Wake,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Shuggie Otis,
Sam Rivers,
Kas Product,
Derrick Morgan,
UT,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Blues Magoos,
The Dirtbombs,
Q and Not U,
Connie Case,
Technova,
The Star Department,
Blake Baxter,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Angry Samoans,
The Birthday Party,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Crime,
Marvin Gaye,
X-102,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Fugazi,
Alphaville,
The Residents,
The Golliwogs,
Flipper,
Simply Red,
Bronski Beat,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Tommy Roe,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Busters,
Robert Hood,
Fatback Band,
Dorothy Ashby,
Mary Jane Girls,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.