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 Oman and from Jakarta.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Unwound to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All K-Klass tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every EPMD record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eve St. Jones,
The Velvet Underground,
Neu!,
The Modern Lovers,
The Slits,
Fugazi,
Gang of Four,
Lindisfarne,
The Flesh Eaters,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Blues Magoos,
The Star Department,
Delon & Dalcan,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rotary Connection,
Slave,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
X-102,
The Grass Roots,
Flash Fearless,
Rakim,
Suburban Knight,
Lucky Dragons,
Rapeman,
the Swans,
Surgeon,
Kas Product,
Bootsy Collins,
the Germs,
JFA,
Pierre Henry,
The Leaves,
Bauhaus,
Schoolly D,
La Düsseldorf,
The Kinks,
Tres Demented,
cv313,
Moby Grape,
Motorama,
Frankie Knuckles,
Reagan Youth,
Al Stewart,
Nik Kershaw,
Symarip,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Patti Smith,
Hasil Adkins,
Dead Boys,
Aswad,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kerri Chandler,
Freddie Wadling,
Susan Cadogan,
Skarface,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gang Green,
Eric Copeland,
Bobby Womack,
Visage,
Cymande,
Boogie Down Productions,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.