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 Morocco and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Copeland to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All Television Personalities tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Toni Rubio,
Ken Boothe,
Agent Orange,
Johnny Osbourne,
Section 25,
Grey Daturas,
Camouflage,
Ponytail,
Barbara Tucker,
Joe Smooth,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Mo-Dettes,
Marcia Griffiths,
Hashim,
These Immortal Souls,
Sun City Girls,
F. McDonald,
Stiv Bators,
The Zeros,
Nirvana,
Marine Girls,
Visage,
Eric Dolphy,
Pantaleimon,
Harmonia,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Velvet Underground,
The Slits,
Depeche Mode,
Young Marble Giants,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bronski Beat,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Duran Duran,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ornette Coleman,
Amon Düül II,
Roxette,
The Shadows of Knight,
China Crisis,
Television Personalities,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sight & Sound,
Dave Gahan,
The Monks,
Public Image Ltd.,
Simply Red,
The American Breed,
Supertramp,
Schoolly D,
Khruangbin,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cal Tjader,
Avey Tare,
Black Sheep,
Monolake,
Henry Cow,
the Association,
Tommy Roe,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Soul II Soul,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.