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 Latvia and from Tehran.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 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 The Tremeloes. All the underground hits.
All The Gladiators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Holt,
Donny Hathaway,
The Leaves,
Chris & Cosey,
Trumans Water,
Angry Samoans,
Eli Mardock,
Lucky Dragons,
Sun City Girls,
David McCallum,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Last Poets,
Marvin Gaye,
Andrew Hill,
Interpol,
Johnny Clarke,
Hot Snakes,
Idris Muhammad,
The Doors,
A Certain Ratio,
Pharoah Sanders,
Swell Maps,
Neil Young,
Reagan Youth,
Howard Jones,
Stereo Dub,
Khruangbin,
Jawbox,
Liliput,
Grauzone,
Con Funk Shun,
Matthew Bourne,
June of 44,
Groovy Waters,
Vainqueur,
Max Romeo,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crime,
Crispy Ambulance,
Quadrant,
Pere Ubu,
Hardrive,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rakim,
The Real Kids,
The Associates,
Prince Buster,
Subhumans,
Q and Not U,
CMW,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Traffic Nightmare,
Severed Heads,
Barclay James Harvest,
Metal Thangz,
Excepter,
Cal Tjader,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Sparks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Ralphi Rosario,
Amazonics,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.