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 Zambia 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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Seoul.
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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
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 Don Cherry to the grunge 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 Darondo. All the underground hits.
All the Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABBA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Shadows of Knight,
Technova,
Masters at Work,
Alice Coltrane,
Black Pus,
Hashim,
The Dead C,
Television,
Half Japanese,
Gang Starr,
The Raincoats,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Litter,
Scott Walker,
Grauzone,
Subhumans,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jimmy McGriff,
Deakin,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Mojo Men,
John Holt,
Marine Girls,
Susan Cadogan,
Barbara Tucker,
Buzzcocks,
a-ha,
Wire,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Birthday Party,
the Normal,
The Dave Clark Five,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Von Mondo,
Zapp,
David McCallum,
Can,
Reuben Wilson,
X-Ray Spex,
The Electric Prunes,
Brothers Johnson,
The Sonics,
Gabor Szabo,
The Searchers,
Agitation Free,
Gil Scott Heron,
Audionom,
Yellowson,
Fluxion,
Black Bananas,
PIL,
Maleditus Sound,
Goldenarms,
Stetsasonic,
Sex Pistols,
Patti Smith,
Moss Icon,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.