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 Iran and from Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Junior Murvin to the techno 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 The Techniques. All the underground hits.
All David Bowie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
Glambeats Corp.,
Drexciya,
Michelle Simonal,
Ultra Naté,
JFA,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Sound,
Youth Brigade,
Pulsallama,
Stereo Dub,
Ludus,
the Association,
Brand Nubian,
Marvin Gaye,
Sun Ra,
Dark Day,
Erasure,
Boz Scaggs,
Harpers Bizarre,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Television,
Davy DMX,
Black Moon,
Moebius,
The New Christs,
The Seeds,
Amon Düül,
Thompson Twins,
Aswad,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Residents,
The Cosmic Jokers,
John Coltrane,
Slick Rick,
The Names,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Leaves,
Radiohead,
Fluxion,
Byron Stingily,
Lou Christie,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Hot Snakes,
Barclay James Harvest,
X-Ray Spex,
Jeru the Damaja,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Japan,
Eve St. Jones,
Sexual Harrassment,
Harmonia,
Easy Going,
Faraquet,
Mandrill,
Lower 48,
Pere Ubu,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.