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 Madagascar and from Salvador.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 David Bowie 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 Rites of Spring to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Zapp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swell Maps 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Hood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare,
Ossler,
The Birthday Party,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Gories,
Glambeats Corp.,
Los Fastidios,
Metal Thangz,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kurtis Blow,
The Human League,
Rod Modell,
Idris Muhammad,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Eric Dolphy,
The Count Five,
The Standells,
R.M.O.,
EPMD,
Deepchord,
Stetsasonic,
The Gladiators,
The Happenings,
Basic Channel,
Spandau Ballet,
Juan Atkins,
Rufus Thomas,
Janne Schatter,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Icehouse,
Schoolly D,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Visage,
Tears for Fears,
Desert Stars,
Can,
The Young Rascals,
The Dead C,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bang On A Can,
Nils Olav,
The Modern Lovers,
Lungfish,
Sun Ra,
Chrome,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Stooges,
Gastr Del Sol,
Arcadia,
The Pretty Things,
The Associates,
Donald Byrd,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Thee Headcoats,
Scan 7,
The Techniques,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Gang of Four,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lyres,
Letta Mbulu,
Dead Boys,
Faraquet,
ABBA, ABBA, ABBA, ABBA.
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.