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 Turkmenistan and from Johannesburg.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Isaac Hayes to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 DNA. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grauzone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Babytalk,
Reagan Youth,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Selecter,
Kenny Larkin,
Kas Product,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Idris Muhammad,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Fat Boys,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Barracudas,
Pulsallama,
Mo-Dettes,
Magazine,
The Evens,
Fluxion,
the Sonics,
Sun City Girls,
Bad Manners,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Searchers,
The Monks,
Sixth Finger,
a-ha,
Rhythm & Sound,
Donny Hathaway,
The Walker Brothers,
Make Up,
The Trojans,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Bobby Sherman,
The Fire Engines,
the Germs,
The Last Poets,
The Monochrome Set,
MC5,
John Cale,
Technova,
Robert Hood,
Lakeside,
Max Romeo,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Bluetip,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Zero Boys,
Terrestrial Tones,
Man Eating Sloth,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ponytail,
John Foxx,
The Young Rascals,
Banda Bassotti,
The Pop Group,
Easy Going,
Monks,
The Blues Magoos,
Marmalade,
Dennis Brown,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.