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 Colombia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 A Certain Ratio to the disco 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 Roy Ayers. All the underground hits.
All Harmonia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scrapy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
Trumans Water,
The Evens,
Minny Pops,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Residents,
Procol Harum,
Little Man,
The Offenders,
Y Pants,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Curtis Mayfield,
Rufus Thomas,
The Moleskins,
Amon Düül II,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Barry Ungar,
Alphaville,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
La Düsseldorf,
The New Christs,
the Swans,
H. Thieme,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Spandau Ballet,
The Trojans,
Skarface,
Joe Smooth,
Agent Orange,
Kas Product,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Young Rascals,
The Vogues,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Absolute Body Control,
Duran Duran,
Toni Rubio,
Brothers Johnson,
The Alarm Clocks,
Bill Near,
Khruangbin,
Boredoms,
Technova,
Matthew Bourne,
Roger Hodgson,
Letta Mbulu,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Donny Hathaway,
Drive Like Jehu,
Depeche Mode,
Marshall Jefferson,
Wasted Youth,
Alice Coltrane,
Basic Channel,
Peter & Gordon,
Camouflage,
A Flock of Seagulls,
In Retrospect,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eric Dolphy,
Nas,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.