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 Finland and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Big Daddy Kane to the jazz 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 Soft Cell. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Symarip 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Alarm Clocks,
the Slits,
Dorothy Ashby,
48th St. Collective,
Minutemen,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Dirtbombs,
Porter Ricks,
Marine Girls,
Wings,
The Gap Band,
OOIOO,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Basic Channel,
Harry Pussy,
Minor Threat,
Dead Boys,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Soul Sonic Force,
Neu!,
It's A Beautiful Day,
the Fania All-Stars,
Blake Baxter,
Second Layer,
Nas,
Heaven 17,
Bush Tetras,
MC5,
The Smoke,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Fire Engines,
Davy DMX,
Archie Shepp,
Andrew Hill,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Soft Machine,
Warren Ellis,
Bang On A Can,
T. Rex,
The Residents,
FM Einheit,
Joey Negro,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Pantytec,
Kaleidoscope,
Thee Headcoats,
Liliput,
Ornette Coleman,
The Moody Blues,
New York Dolls,
Camberwell Now,
Black Pus,
Au Pairs,
Tom Boy,
Wally Richardson,
The Move,
The Leaves,
Maleditus Sound,
Ohio Players,
Half Japanese,
Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag, Black Flag.
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.