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 Dominica and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Seoul.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Saccharine Trust to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Johnny Clarke. All the underground hits.
All The Gun Club tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lower 48 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
Minor Threat,
Kerrie Biddell,
Chris Corsano,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Sun City Girls,
Rakim,
June Days,
Spoonie Gee,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Harmonia,
This Heat,
Moebius,
Erasure,
Davy DMX,
Letta Mbulu,
Isaac Hayes,
Bluetip,
X-101,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Eric Dolphy,
The Dirtbombs,
Tommy Roe,
Pussy Galore,
Cecil Taylor,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
James Chance & The Contortions,
JFA,
Brothers Johnson,
Barbara Tucker,
Fela Kuti,
La Düsseldorf,
LL Cool J,
The Moleskins,
Royal Trux,
Amon Düül,
Mars,
The Dead C,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Icehouse,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
A Certain Ratio,
Rosa Yemen,
Wasted Youth,
Scan 7,
Circle Jerks,
Blake Baxter,
Soft Cell,
Aloha Tigers,
The Young Rascals,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Magazine,
Mark Hollis,
The Five Americans,
The United States of America,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Popol Vuh,
The Victims, The Victims, The Victims, The Victims.
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.