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 Suriname and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Seoul.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Count Five to the techno 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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All The Pop Group tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kevin Saunderson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Isaac Hayes,
Eurythmics,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Victims,
The Tremeloes,
Flipper,
Amon Düül II,
Man Parrish,
Charles Mingus,
Aswad,
Spandau Ballet,
Kurtis Blow,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
David Axelrod,
The Smiths,
Patti Smith,
Cymande,
Monolake,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Letta Mbulu,
H. Thieme,
David Bowie,
Yaz,
Bad Manners,
The American Breed,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Moby Grape,
Half Japanese,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jacob Miller,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pylon,
Country Teasers,
Aaron Thompson,
Average White Band,
Schoolly D,
Sun City Girls,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
X-101,
Simply Red,
The Zeros,
The Fall,
DNA,
Au Pairs,
Erasure,
The Associates,
Goldenarms,
Warren Ellis,
Jawbox,
Black Bananas,
Fluxion,
The Evens,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Martian,
Lower 48,
The New Christs,
Pole,
Sun Ra,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.