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 South Sudan and from Beijing.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Funky Four + One to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Country Teasers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Matthew Halsall record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Metal Thangz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Yazoo,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Gladiators,
The Happenings,
Jimmy McGriff,
June of 44,
Hardrive,
cv313,
Lou Reed,
Funkadelic,
Roxette,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Music Machine,
The Black Dice,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Flesh Eaters,
Lindisfarne,
Pulsallama,
Vainqueur,
The Knickerbockers,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Man Parrish,
John Cale,
The Skatalites,
Y Pants,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Mad Mike,
The Blackbyrds,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gang Green,
Wings,
The Durutti Column,
Eurythmics,
Carl Craig,
The Toasters,
Marmalade,
Harmonia,
PIL,
Jacques Brel,
X-101,
Avey Tare,
Negative Approach,
Curtis Mayfield,
Popol Vuh,
Sight & Sound,
Jeff Mills,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Little Man,
Fluxion,
Public Enemy,
Matthew Halsall,
Gang Gang Dance,
MDC,
Aloha Tigers,
Ohio Players,
Johnny Osbourne,
Sun City Girls,
Scion,
The Kinks,
Easy Going,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.