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 Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 The Angels of Light to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Sugar Minott. All the underground hits.
All Ossler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Maurizio 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tears for Fears 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?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Cybotron,
Kaleidoscope,
The Tremeloes,
Lower 48,
Scott Walker,
Second Layer,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Toasters,
Jandek,
Erykah Badu,
Basic Channel,
Alton Ellis,
Neil Young,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bizarre Inc.,
the Bar-Kays,
Ice-T,
Radio Birdman,
Gregory Isaacs,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Vladislav Delay,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Slits,
Josef K,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Tim Buckley,
The Walker Brothers,
Q and Not U,
Steve Hackett,
The Evens,
Whodini,
Blake Baxter,
Main Source,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Modern Lovers,
The Human League,
Rotary Connection,
Bob Dylan,
Funky Four + One,
Inner City,
Cheater Slicks,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Liliput,
Duran Duran,
The Buckinghams,
Flamin' Groovies,
Echospace,
Nik Kershaw,
World's Most,
Pylon,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Metal Thangz,
Arcadia,
B.T. Express,
U.S. Maple,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Roger Hodgson,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Kinks,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.