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 Uganda and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the 808 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 Basic Channel to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Joyce Sims tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The New Christs,
Nico,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Judy Mowatt,
Popol Vuh,
Terry Callier,
The Music Machine,
The Doors,
Ken Boothe,
Cal Tjader,
Bauhaus,
The Selecter,
Qualms,
Eurythmics,
The Black Dice,
Bobby Sherman,
Fad Gadget,
Pussy Galore,
Throbbing Gristle,
Jacob Miller,
The Cramps,
The Golliwogs,
The Pretty Things,
Quando Quango,
Half Japanese,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Knickerbockers,
Anakelly,
Quantec,
Fela Kuti,
The Names,
Max Romeo,
Jandek,
Little Man,
Stereo Dub,
Au Pairs,
Sight & Sound,
Wally Richardson,
Section 25,
Dead Boys,
Leonard Cohen,
Aswad,
Blossom Toes,
Funky Four + One,
Yellowson,
Black Sheep,
DJ Sneak,
Mantronix,
Babytalk,
Colin Newman,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Red Krayola,
The Litter,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Searchers,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Index,
Silicon Teens,
Erykah Badu,
Zero Boys,
Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps.
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.