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 Barbados and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 oboe 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 Malaria! to the electroclash 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 the Bar-Kays. All the underground hits.
All DJ Style tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gap Band 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Jerry's Kids,
Aural Exciters,
OOIOO,
Ituana,
Ohio Players,
Soul II Soul,
Reuben Wilson,
Aloha Tigers,
Thee Headcoats,
Brick,
Skarface,
L. Decosne,
Pere Ubu,
Arthur Verocai,
Laurel Aitken,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Isaac Hayes,
Ken Boothe,
Jandek,
The Smoke,
Pole,
Can,
Alton Ellis,
Clear Light,
John Holt,
Moby Grape,
Deakin,
The Techniques,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Music Machine,
The Stooges,
The Smiths,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
T. Rex,
Gichy Dan,
Spandau Ballet,
Barbara Tucker,
Boredoms,
Public Enemy,
The Skatalites,
Agitation Free,
Drexciya,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Seeds,
Althea and Donna,
The Invisible,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Marvin Gaye,
Prince Buster,
Circle Jerks,
Gang Gang Dance,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Angels of Light,
Camouflage,
Rufus Thomas,
Gabor Szabo,
The Red Krayola,
Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U.
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.