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 Tajikistan and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gregory Isaacs 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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All Kings Of Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Derrick Morgan 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Axelrod record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slackers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Skatalites,
Scientists,
Blake Baxter,
T. Rex,
X-101,
Isaac Hayes,
The Trojans,
The Names,
Pantaleimon,
Von Mondo,
The Young Rascals,
The Walker Brothers,
The Star Department,
The United States of America,
The Happenings,
Joyce Sims,
the Fania All-Stars,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lee Hazlewood,
Qualms,
The Golliwogs,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Donald Byrd,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Chris Corsano,
Loose Ends,
Avey Tare,
Little Man,
The Wake,
Kool Moe Dee,
Scrapy,
Schoolly D,
Crispy Ambulance,
Popol Vuh,
Soulsonic Force,
The Standells,
Peter & Gordon,
Suicide,
Lyres,
Flash Fearless,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Selecter,
Absolute Body Control,
R.M.O.,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Mary Jane Girls,
Agitation Free,
Sex Pistols,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Colin Newman,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Blancmange,
The Invisible,
Sun City Girls,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Charles Mingus,
the Sonics,
June of 44,
The Vogues,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.