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 Samoa and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 arpeggiator 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 Ice-T 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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All Dave Gahan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Don Cherry,
Fatback Band,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Rosa Yemen,
Dennis Brown,
Dark Day,
Bobby Sherman,
Al Stewart,
Quantec,
Chris Corsano,
The Fuzztones,
Lou Christie,
Ponytail,
The Motions,
Sex Pistols,
The Doors,
Funky Four + One,
New York Dolls,
Second Layer,
Maurizio,
Eurythmics,
The Knickerbockers,
DJ Sneak,
Davy DMX,
X-101,
Aaron Thompson,
Babytalk,
The Names,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gang Gang Dance,
Wire,
June Days,
Kerrie Biddell,
Audionom,
Inner City,
The Smoke,
Isaac Hayes,
Donny Hathaway,
Pagans,
Swell Maps,
T.S.O.L.,
The Residents,
Connie Case,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Albert Ayler,
Henry Cow,
Mandrill,
Bill Near,
Amon Düül,
Massinfluence,
Oneida,
Flipper,
Kenny Larkin,
Fugazi,
Lindisfarne,
Outsiders,
Spoonie Gee,
Moebius,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Max Romeo,
Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz.
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.