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 Tanzania and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 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 Guru Guru to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All Urselle tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Bluetip,
The Sonics,
Alice Coltrane,
L. Decosne,
Icehouse,
Idris Muhammad,
The Music Machine,
Dark Day,
Dennis Brown,
Donald Byrd,
Average White Band,
The Beau Brummels,
Graham Central Station,
cv313,
Nik Kershaw,
The Martian,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Busters,
Surgeon,
The Neon Judgement,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Mars,
Lucky Dragons,
Ralphi Rosario,
Suburban Knight,
Barclay James Harvest,
Simply Red,
Mantronix,
Grauzone,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Accadde A,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bronski Beat,
Little Man,
The Walker Brothers,
Joe Finger,
Aloha Tigers,
Heaven 17,
Khruangbin,
Sandy B,
Neu!,
Chris & Cosey,
The Young Rascals,
Urselle,
The Birthday Party,
Barbara Tucker,
Nas,
Throbbing Gristle,
Arthur Verocai,
Crash Course in Science,
Niagra,
The Divine Comedy,
The Cramps,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Newcleus,
Motorama,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
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.