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 Angola and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Move to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Grandmaster Flash. All the underground hits.
All Crispy Ambulance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pere Ubu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Talk Talk,
Jawbox,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Sun Ra,
The Busters,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Severed Heads,
Kayak,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Joey Negro,
Skriet,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Agitation Free,
Dawn Penn,
Eric Dolphy,
Young Marble Giants,
ABC,
Anthony Braxton,
Archie Shepp,
The Blues Magoos,
The Victims,
Lindisfarne,
Wasted Youth,
E-Dancer,
Stereo Dub,
Main Source,
Rapeman,
Graham Central Station,
The Doors,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Fire Engines,
T. Rex,
The Moleskins,
Lebanon Hanover,
Bootsy Collins,
James Chance & The Contortions,
UT,
Cheater Slicks,
A Certain Ratio,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gang Starr,
Newcleus,
John Cale,
Guru Guru,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Slave,
The Standells,
Can,
Ken Boothe,
Alice Coltrane,
a-ha,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Motorama,
The Barracudas,
Lalann,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Nico,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
the Sonics,
Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip.
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.