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 Barbados and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Lille.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the marimba 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 Swell Maps to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Robert Wyatt. All the underground hits.
All Prince Buster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Bananas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sexual Harrassment,
Shuggie Otis,
Theoretical Girls,
Alice Coltrane,
Moebius,
Danielle Patucci,
The Smiths,
the Slits,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Magazine,
Drexciya,
Michelle Simonal,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
June Days,
the Normal,
Mo-Dettes,
Jawbox,
The Sonics,
Bobby Byrd,
Electric Prunes,
MC5,
David McCallum,
Fluxion,
The Slackers,
Siglo XX,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Cure,
Niagra,
Sound Behaviour,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Grey Daturas,
Agitation Free,
Dead Boys,
ABBA,
Nas,
The Young Rascals,
Cluster,
Letta Mbulu,
Glambeats Corp.,
Basic Channel,
Laurel Aitken,
Das Ding,
Althea and Donna,
AZ,
Dave Gahan,
Soft Machine,
Ice-T,
Rod Modell,
One Last Wish,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Slick Rick,
Scion,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Wire,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Eddi Front,
Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse, Icehouse.
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.