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 Taiwan and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Tom Verlaine 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 LL Cool J to the rap 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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Janne Schatter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
the Germs,
Piero Umiliani,
Young Marble Giants,
Black Flag,
Deadbeat,
KRS-One,
A Certain Ratio,
Johnny Clarke,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bush Tetras,
Lucky Dragons,
Second Layer,
Monks,
Bobby Byrd,
Vainqueur,
The Count Five,
Eden Ahbez,
Cecil Taylor,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Donald Byrd,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Cowsills,
Joe Smooth,
Mo-Dettes,
Chris Corsano,
Mark Hollis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Stereo Dub,
The Index,
Ituana,
Bad Manners,
The Moody Blues,
Lou Christie,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Stooges,
Throbbing Gristle,
Soft Machine,
Main Source,
the Bar-Kays,
Yusef Lateef,
T. Rex,
Dennis Brown,
Amazonics,
Terry Callier,
Amon Düül,
Soft Cell,
Scion,
Half Japanese,
Sixth Finger,
Electric Prunes,
Technova,
Drive Like Jehu,
Chris & Cosey,
The Black Dice,
Duran Duran,
Be Bop Deluxe,
James White and The Blacks,
Skriet,
Black Bananas,
Icehouse,
The Vogues,
Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti, Banda Bassotti.
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.