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 Antigua and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Alton Ellis to the rap 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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Barclay James Harvest tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Count Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dave Gahan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Terrestrial Tones,
Sexual Harrassment,
Thee Headcoats,
Subhumans,
New Age Steppers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Barry Ungar,
Minutemen,
Todd Rundgren,
The Toasters,
the Swans,
Mark Hollis,
Eurythmics,
Eric B and Rakim,
Vainqueur,
the Human League,
Stetsasonic,
Archie Shepp,
Moebius,
Graham Central Station,
Infiniti,
Blancmange,
Deakin,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Wire,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pussy Galore,
Gang Green,
Black Sheep,
Joy Division,
Massinfluence,
Oblivians,
The Move,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Sex Pistols,
Crash Course in Science,
Adolescents,
Animal Collective,
H. Thieme,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lebanon Hanover,
Qualms,
Lucky Dragons,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Moody Blues,
Tim Buckley,
Dennis Brown,
Josef K,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Offenders,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sällskapet,
Mary Jane Girls,
The New Christs,
Faraquet,
Mo-Dettes,
Ice-T,
Pere Ubu,
Depeche Mode,
In Retrospect,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
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.