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 Benin and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Crime to the crunk 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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Red Lorry Yellow Lorry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brothers Johnson,
Crooked Eye,
Duran Duran,
Model 500,
Mark Hollis,
Vladislav Delay,
The United States of America,
U.S. Maple,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Oneida,
Blancmange,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Wake,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
the Normal,
The Dead C,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Cal Tjader,
Pole,
Sonny Sharrock,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Human League,
Matthew Bourne,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Seeds,
Robert Wyatt,
Au Pairs,
Ronan,
New York Dolls,
Neu!,
Organ,
Altered Images,
MC5,
Brick,
Agitation Free,
Fluxion,
The Birthday Party,
Can,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Trojans,
The Flesh Eaters,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Lakeside,
Stereo Dub,
Eric Copeland,
The J.B.'s,
The Slits,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Warren Ellis,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ludus,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Names,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Big Daddy Kane,
Jimmy McGriff,
Q and Not U,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.