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 Jamaica and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Rufus Thomas to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Dorothy Ashby. All the underground hits.
All Art Ensemble Of Chicago tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mission of Burma record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jacques Brel,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Skriet,
The Standells,
The Fall,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Avey Tare,
Camouflage,
Kerri Chandler,
Suburban Knight,
Absolute Body Control,
Howard Jones,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tropical Tobacco,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
DJ Style,
Arcadia,
Con Funk Shun,
Brand Nubian,
Gichy Dan,
Eric B and Rakim,
Crispian St. Peters,
Marshall Jefferson,
Echospace,
the Swans,
Can,
Yellowson,
Roy Ayers,
Saccharine Trust,
Sly & The Family Stone,
cv313,
The Stooges,
the Bar-Kays,
Pharoah Sanders,
Guru Guru,
Kenny Larkin,
Jeff Mills,
Monolake,
Tom Boy,
Average White Band,
The Sound,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Heaven 17,
Adolescents,
Idris Muhammad,
T. Rex,
Dennis Brown,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Nirvana,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Easy Going,
Slick Rick,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Moleskins,
Ash Ra Tempel,
R.M.O.,
Ornette Coleman,
a-ha,
Circle Jerks,
Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewood.
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.