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 Hungary and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Thompson Twins to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All PIL tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stiv Bators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
Stereo Dub,
New Order,
Masters at Work,
Gang Starr,
Freddie Wadling,
Radiopuhelimet,
Pole,
Jimmy McGriff,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Motorama,
the Slits,
Brothers Johnson,
UT,
Ultravox,
Nils Olav,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Y Pants,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Wally Richardson,
The Sonics,
Sparks,
Jandek,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Hoover,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
New Age Steppers,
Yaz,
Soft Cell,
Crash Course in Science,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bush Tetras,
Qualms,
Eden Ahbez,
Pantaleimon,
Joe Smooth,
Scott Walker,
Bobbi Humphrey,
John Cale,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Stooges,
Gong,
Pulsallama,
The Real Kids,
John Holt,
Joyce Sims,
Suicide,
Eddi Front,
A Certain Ratio,
Kayak,
Glenn Branca,
The Busters,
Adolescents,
Leonard Cohen,
Lucky Dragons,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Au Pairs,
the Human League,
Henry Cow,
Andrew Hill,
Wolf Eyes,
Ice-T,
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.