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 Nauru and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 mellotron 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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux 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 X-Ray Spex. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Louis and Bebe Barron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Monks,
Roxy Music,
The Victims,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Minor Threat,
Faust,
Man Parrish,
The Gap Band,
The Kinks,
Josef K,
Pere Ubu,
The Birthday Party,
Faraquet,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Crime,
Young Marble Giants,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gang of Four,
Panda Bear,
Tres Demented,
10cc,
Main Source,
Kayak,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
UT,
Brick,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Robert Wyatt,
Average White Band,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Angry Samoans,
Royal Trux,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Adolescents,
The Human League,
Boogie Down Productions,
Johnny Clarke,
Juan Atkins,
This Heat,
Joyce Sims,
Silicon Teens,
Junior Murvin,
Gil Scott Heron,
Ultimate Spinach,
Thompson Twins,
Bad Manners,
The Dirtbombs,
Throbbing Gristle,
L. Decosne,
The Count Five,
Lyres,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Neu!,
Eric Dolphy,
Gang Green,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
U.S. Maple,
Funky Four + One,
Livin' Joy,
the Bar-Kays,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.