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 Liechtenstein and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 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 Massinfluence to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All Freddie Wadling tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ralphi Rosario record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Underground Resistance,
Black Moon,
Deakin,
Kurtis Blow,
Minnie Riperton,
The Wake,
Marc Almond,
Dennis Brown,
Davy DMX,
The Names,
Todd Rundgren,
The Birthday Party,
World's Most,
The Skatalites,
Bush Tetras,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Television,
Rekid,
The Sound,
The Busters,
Roy Ayers,
Kenny Larkin,
Symarip,
Rufus Thomas,
Eric Dolphy,
Young Marble Giants,
Severed Heads,
The Searchers,
Procol Harum,
Bad Manners,
Lou Christie,
Sparks,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Surgeon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Donald Byrd,
Jandek,
Subhumans,
Joe Finger,
Pere Ubu,
Harry Pussy,
the Normal,
Wally Richardson,
Ultra Naté,
Kas Product,
The Divine Comedy,
Laurel Aitken,
Amon Düül II,
Soul Sonic Force,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Mark Hollis,
Sight & Sound,
The Slits,
Thee Headcoats,
The Fire Engines,
Sun Ra,
Chris & Cosey,
Hashim,
The Last Poets,
Khruangbin,
ABC, ABC, ABC, ABC.
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.