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 Guyana and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Accra.
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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Subhumans to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Minor Threat. All the underground hits.
All Blossom Toes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scan 7 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Five Americans,
JFA,
Boz Scaggs,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bill Wells,
Yellowson,
Dennis Brown,
Pet Shop Boys,
Fugazi,
Gang of Four,
the Slits,
Unwound,
Oneida,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Jeru the Damaja,
Flamin' Groovies,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Pulsallama,
Barbara Tucker,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Eric Dolphy,
Gong,
X-101,
Minnie Riperton,
Index,
The Last Poets,
Aswad,
Country Teasers,
Nico,
Albert Ayler,
The Trojans,
The Skatalites,
Slick Rick,
Ten City,
Ronnie Foster,
Reuben Wilson,
the Sonics,
Sparks,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Jimmy McGriff,
Stiv Bators,
Scratch Acid,
Laurel Aitken,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kenny Larkin,
The Zeros,
Idris Muhammad,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Mission of Burma,
Skarface,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Wake,
Aural Exciters,
Shoche,
Supertramp,
Public Image Ltd.,
Babytalk,
The Offenders,
Negative Approach,
Maleditus Sound,
The Count Five, The Count Five, The Count Five, The Count Five.
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.