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 Haiti and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Robert Hood to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Derrick May tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Throbbing Gristle record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Anthony Braxton record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Misunderstood,
Danielle Patucci,
Barrington Levy,
48th St. Collective,
Sun City Girls,
Spandau Ballet,
Pere Ubu,
Bauhaus,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Alton Ellis,
Y Pants,
Bobby Byrd,
Ultravox,
Gichy Dan,
The Velvet Underground,
Ohio Players,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Cymande,
The Smiths,
Idris Muhammad,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Kenny Larkin,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Hoover,
Liliput,
The Cure,
Eddi Front,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Jeff Mills,
T.S.O.L.,
Stereo Dub,
Bobbi Humphrey,
John Coltrane,
Das Ding,
Public Image Ltd.,
Radio Birdman,
Graham Central Station,
Shuggie Otis,
Khruangbin,
Marvin Gaye,
Susan Cadogan,
Crash Course in Science,
La Düsseldorf,
Rekid,
Nico,
Mantronix,
Quantec,
Bush Tetras,
Scratch Acid,
The Zeros,
Brothers Johnson,
Gang Starr,
Sixth Finger,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Vainqueur,
Eric Dolphy,
Franke,
Joey Negro,
One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish, One Last Wish.
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.