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 Mali and from Spokane.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 London Community Gospel Choir to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Slits. All the underground hits.
All Shuggie Otis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-102 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Joe Finger,
Andrew Hill,
Ronnie Foster,
Maleditus Sound,
MC5,
Lightning Bolt,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Fall,
Harmonia,
Gang Starr,
Ponytail,
Gastr Del Sol,
Goldenarms,
World's Most,
Flamin' Groovies,
Malaria!,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Kenny Larkin,
Gil Scott Heron,
FM Einheit,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Alice Coltrane,
the Human League,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobby Sherman,
Kerri Chandler,
Joyce Sims,
Tears for Fears,
Hoover,
Jeff Mills,
Outsiders,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Blues Magoos,
Lower 48,
Jerry's Kids,
Slave,
Soft Machine,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
X-101,
Inner City,
Scion,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Bob Dylan,
Skriet,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Busters,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sandy B,
The Dead C,
Deakin,
ABBA,
The Cure,
Von Mondo,
Pagans,
Todd Rundgren,
Rotary Connection,
Television Personalities,
Bill Wells,
10cc,
Hasil Adkins,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.