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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Fire Engines to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Make Up. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quantec 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Chocolate Watch Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
Easy Going,
Crispian St. Peters,
Delta 5,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Smoke,
Depeche Mode,
Ralphi Rosario,
Iggy Pop,
The J.B.'s,
Sight & Sound,
The Shadows of Knight,
Pylon,
PIL,
These Immortal Souls,
The Wake,
Al Stewart,
The Martian,
The Count Five,
Duran Duran,
The Knickerbockers,
Gang Gang Dance,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Techniques,
Marcia Griffiths,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Schoolly D,
Nirvana,
The Smiths,
Ludus,
The Doors,
John Foxx,
ABBA,
Johnny Osbourne,
Talk Talk,
Japan,
The Five Americans,
The Doobie Brothers,
Wasted Youth,
Terry Callier,
A Certain Ratio,
Crooked Eye,
John Coltrane,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Stereo Dub,
Maleditus Sound,
The Invisible,
The Gun Club,
Darondo,
Andrew Hill,
The Blues Magoos,
Joy Division,
Interpol,
Morten Harket,
Flamin' Groovies,
Robert Hood,
Public Enemy,
Minnie Riperton,
Swell Maps,
The Happenings,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.