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 Nauru and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 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 Eric B and Rakim to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Masters at Work record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Buckinghams,
Janne Schatter,
Half Japanese,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Michelle Simonal,
The Velvet Underground,
The Birthday Party,
Sonny Sharrock,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Tomorrow,
Trumans Water,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minny Pops,
The Pretty Things,
Crash Course in Science,
Niagra,
Arthur Verocai,
Sun Ra,
Max Romeo,
U.S. Maple,
Panda Bear,
James White and The Blacks,
Brothers Johnson,
Wings,
Agitation Free,
The Slackers,
The Grass Roots,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sixth Finger,
Con Funk Shun,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Electric Prunes,
Marcia Griffiths,
ABC,
Nas,
Qualms,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Divine Comedy,
Piero Umiliani,
Soul Sonic Force,
Quadrant,
Yazoo,
Darondo,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Golliwogs,
Warren Ellis,
Rites of Spring,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Television Personalities,
Jawbox,
Danielle Patucci,
Kurtis Blow,
Guru Guru,
The Skatalites,
Severed Heads,
Depeche Mode,
a-ha,
Gang Green,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Monks,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.