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 East Timor and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Columbus.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the theremin 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 Sarah Menescal to the punk 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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All Neil Young tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Eating Sloth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Doors,
Magma,
Erykah Badu,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Rakim,
Steve Hackett,
Glenn Branca,
Frankie Knuckles,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Slackers,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bad Manners,
Negative Approach,
Rufus Thomas,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Cal Tjader,
Grey Daturas,
Derrick May,
Harry Pussy,
Althea and Donna,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
R.M.O.,
Lee Hazlewood,
Derrick Morgan,
Unrelated Segments,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pylon,
Hardrive,
Pulsallama,
Y Pants,
Idris Muhammad,
Spoonie Gee,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Alice Coltrane,
Donald Byrd,
The Real Kids,
The Dirtbombs,
Tres Demented,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ossler,
Black Pus,
Black Flag,
B.T. Express,
Scratch Acid,
Crooked Eye,
Skriet,
Pagans,
The Dead C,
Dark Day,
The Standells,
Skaos,
Babytalk,
Gichy Dan,
Barrington Levy,
Joe Smooth,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Gastr Del Sol,
Zapp,
48th St. Collective,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.