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 Benin and from Bologna.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Holger Czukay 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 Laurel Aitken to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 New Age Steppers. All the underground hits.
All Minny Pops tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doobie Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gerry Rafferty,
Connie Case,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Reagan Youth,
Quadrant,
The Names,
The Black Dice,
Max Romeo,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sex Pistols,
Visage,
The Cramps,
Derrick Morgan,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Slits,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ice-T,
Sarah Menescal,
Chris & Cosey,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Trojans,
Ituana,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Electric Prunes,
Neil Young,
Pagans,
The Knickerbockers,
Anthony Braxton,
Inner City,
Faust,
Sparks,
Kaleidoscope,
The United States of America,
Jeff Mills,
Magazine,
Quando Quango,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Shuggie Otis,
Talk Talk,
Basic Channel,
Mary Jane Girls,
Zapp,
Josef K,
Cymande,
Susan Cadogan,
China Crisis,
Be Bop Deluxe,
48th St. Collective,
The Selecter,
Marshall Jefferson,
Janne Schatter,
Eric Copeland,
The Index,
Cecil Taylor,
The Moleskins,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Porter Ricks,
Lightning Bolt,
The American Breed,
Rod Modell,
Organ, Organ, Organ, Organ.
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.