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 Iraq and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 808 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 These Immortal Souls to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch. All the underground hits.
All The Buckinghams tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Audionom record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alphaville record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Rites of Spring,
Amon Düül,
Pere Ubu,
E-Dancer,
Youth Brigade,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Archie Shepp,
David Bowie,
the Soft Cell,
Sonny Sharrock,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Victims,
The Count Five,
Godley & Creme,
Smog,
Radio Birdman,
UT,
The J.B.'s,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Music Machine,
Jawbox,
Funky Four + One,
The Techniques,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Minor Threat,
Fugazi,
The Blues Magoos,
Fluxion,
The Gun Club,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Gories,
Jeff Mills,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Camberwell Now,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Rotary Connection,
Toni Rubio,
Average White Band,
Rapeman,
The Fuzztones,
Television,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Main Source,
Sun City Girls,
Johnny Clarke,
Pylon,
Q and Not U,
Franke,
Fatback Band,
Quantec,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Funkadelic,
Nik Kershaw,
Subhumans,
Roxy Music,
Faust,
The Blackbyrds,
Sister Nancy,
Big Daddy Kane,
David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum.
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.