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 Kenya and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Prince Buster to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Görl. All the underground hits.
All Depeche Mode tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mark Hollis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Bar-Kays,
Soft Cell,
Chrome,
Lakeside,
New Order,
Tropical Tobacco,
Massinfluence,
The Names,
Bang On A Can,
Ossler,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Harry Pussy,
Bobby Sherman,
Cameo,
cv313,
Sound Behaviour,
A Certain Ratio,
Metal Thangz,
AZ,
Archie Shepp,
Smog,
Kool Moe Dee,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
JFA,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Mantronix,
Adolescents,
Scott Walker,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Doors,
Outsiders,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Smiths,
Sight & Sound,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Blancmange,
Eve St. Jones,
Section 25,
The Vogues,
The Young Rascals,
Dennis Brown,
The Knickerbockers,
The Slits,
Ultravox,
Joensuu 1685,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Byron Stingily,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Grey Daturas,
10cc,
Siglo XX,
The Misunderstood,
Sexual Harrassment,
X-Ray Spex,
H. Thieme,
Cecil Taylor,
Barbara Tucker,
Porter Ricks,
The Buckinghams,
Crash Course in Science,
Masters at Work, Masters at Work, Masters at Work, Masters at Work.
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.