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 Eritrea and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 sitar 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 Symarip to the rock 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All The Real Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun Ra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Coltrane,
Amazonics,
Todd Rundgren,
Guru Guru,
Electric Prunes,
Unrelated Segments,
Terry Callier,
Tom Boy,
Michelle Simonal,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Slave,
Anakelly,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Ossler,
The Velvet Underground,
World's Most,
Accadde A,
The Vogues,
PIL,
The Invisible,
Jandek,
The Modern Lovers,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Judy Mowatt,
Neu!,
Big Daddy Kane,
Quando Quango,
E-Dancer,
Goldenarms,
Nation of Ulysses,
DNA,
Q65,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Liliput,
Public Enemy,
The Move,
The Fire Engines,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pet Shop Boys,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Royal Trux,
Mark Hollis,
The Human League,
Essential Logic,
Alice Coltrane,
The Red Krayola,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Funkadelic,
Wire,
The Standells,
Ronnie Foster,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Names,
Camberwell Now,
Tomorrow,
R.M.O.,
Intrusion,
The Wake,
Jeru the Damaja,
Lou Reed,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
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.