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 Nauru 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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 theremin 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 Theoretical Girls to the dance 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 The Litter. All the underground hits.
All Technova tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grauzone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül,
The Angels of Light,
Sandy B,
The New Christs,
Icehouse,
Derrick Morgan,
Bobby Byrd,
Barbara Tucker,
DJ Sneak,
Basic Channel,
Todd Terry,
Pere Ubu,
Flash Fearless,
Iggy Pop,
Robert Wyatt,
Alphaville,
The Saints,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Animal Collective,
Cal Tjader,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Byron Stingily,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Gang Starr,
Hasil Adkins,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Remains,
Electric Prunes,
Wolf Eyes,
Colin Newman,
Mo-Dettes,
Arab on Radar,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Organ,
Brothers Johnson,
Don Cherry,
The Offenders,
Scott Walker,
Half Japanese,
Wire,
Barry Ungar,
The Buckinghams,
Deepchord,
Technova,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
New Age Steppers,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Girls At Our Best!,
Visage,
Susan Cadogan,
Faraquet,
Stereo Dub,
the Soft Cell,
Duran Duran,
Sparks,
Hashim,
EPMD,
Eden Ahbez,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Smog,
Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi.
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.