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 France and from Bremen.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Loose Ends to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Black Pus. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Normal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sam Rivers,
Theoretical Girls,
Unrelated Segments,
ABC,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tres Demented,
Deakin,
Prince Buster,
The Pop Group,
D'Angelo,
Pere Ubu,
Johnny Clarke,
Neu!,
Magazine,
Rapeman,
the Fania All-Stars,
Procol Harum,
Urselle,
Gabor Szabo,
Oneida,
Sonic Youth,
Animal Collective,
Dead Boys,
The Grass Roots,
Man Eating Sloth,
Roger Hodgson,
Arab on Radar,
The Fugs,
R.M.O.,
Erykah Badu,
John Coltrane,
LL Cool J,
Massinfluence,
Scott Walker,
Colin Newman,
Steve Hackett,
The Velvet Underground,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Modern Lovers,
Yellowson,
Patti Smith,
The Invisible,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Techniques,
The Moody Blues,
Soft Cell,
Pussy Galore,
The Doobie Brothers,
T.S.O.L.,
The Skatalites,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Davy DMX,
The Standells,
Skriet,
Smog,
Camberwell Now,
The Cure,
Khruangbin,
Danielle Patucci,
Aswad,
Fatback Band,
Archie Shepp,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.