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 Tunisia and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Detroit Cobras to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Skaos. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funkadelic 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Star Department record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Monks,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Fortunes,
Joensuu 1685,
Yellowson,
Index,
David Axelrod,
Amon Düül,
The Cowsills,
The Associates,
Little Man,
Funky Four + One,
Tubeway Army,
Fad Gadget,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Barrington Levy,
Oblivians,
DJ Sneak,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Deepchord,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Groovy Waters,
World's Most,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Magma,
The Music Machine,
Sonic Youth,
Agent Orange,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pagans,
Nik Kershaw,
The Blues Magoos,
Amazonics,
Inner City,
Roy Ayers,
Young Marble Giants,
Livin' Joy,
Von Mondo,
Gang Gang Dance,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Monks,
the Germs,
Juan Atkins,
Joyce Sims,
Duran Duran,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kevin Saunderson,
Stereo Dub,
Outsiders,
Swell Maps,
Theoretical Girls,
Lindisfarne,
Man Eating Sloth,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Names,
Frankie Knuckles,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.