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 Turkey and from Bologna.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Houston.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Eddi Front to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 L. Decosne. All the underground hits.
All Flamin' Groovies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flash Fearless record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Rosa Yemen,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Birthday Party,
The Cramps,
Cecil Taylor,
Oblivians,
Half Japanese,
The Pretty Things,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Spandau Ballet,
Mantronix,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Durutti Column,
Simply Red,
Suburban Knight,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Hoover,
Warsaw,
Motorama,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
It's A Beautiful Day,
La Düsseldorf,
Rotary Connection,
K-Klass,
X-102,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bush Tetras,
Graham Central Station,
Amon Düül,
The Human League,
Depeche Mode,
Black Bananas,
Cluster,
Robert Görl,
New Order,
Youth Brigade,
Circle Jerks,
The Litter,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Mars,
CMW,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gong,
Magma,
Audionom,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Fuzztones,
B.T. Express,
Unrelated Segments,
Colin Newman,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Shuggie Otis,
The Fortunes,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Gang Starr,
Aswad,
The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots, The Grass Roots.
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.