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 Thailand and from Accra.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Talk Talk to the rap 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Lonnie Liston Smith tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Selecter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Jacob Miller,
The Leaves,
In Retrospect,
the Fania All-Stars,
Fatback Band,
Aswad,
The Offenders,
T. Rex,
Tomorrow,
Sparks,
Pussy Galore,
Eddi Front,
Sonic Youth,
Clear Light,
Outsiders,
Banda Bassotti,
Hardrive,
Index,
The Wake,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Motions,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Magma,
Gregory Isaacs,
Babytalk,
Peter and Kerry,
The Black Dice,
MC5,
The Real Kids,
Alphaville,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Slave,
The Fortunes,
Henry Cow,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Letta Mbulu,
Robert Hood,
The Golliwogs,
Lou Reed,
Ken Boothe,
The Selecter,
Ronnie Foster,
Make Up,
Johnny Clarke,
Monks,
The Gories,
Piero Umiliani,
Delta 5,
Cheater Slicks,
Davy DMX,
The Last Poets,
Gil Scott Heron,
the Slits,
Grauzone,
Siglo XX,
Eric Dolphy,
Rhythm & Sound,
Slick Rick,
The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges, The Stooges.
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.