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 Poland and from Milan.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 chamberlin 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 The Monks to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Saccharine Trust record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Sheep record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marmalade,
Andrew Hill,
Reagan Youth,
Alice Coltrane,
Boz Scaggs,
Eddi Front,
Alton Ellis,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Shuggie Otis,
Crispian St. Peters,
Barbara Tucker,
Jesper Dahlback,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Cramps,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Quando Quango,
Erykah Badu,
Jerry's Kids,
Lyres,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Television Personalities,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Derrick May,
Soul II Soul,
David Axelrod,
the Human League,
Rufus Thomas,
Ten City,
Q65,
Angry Samoans,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Pylon,
John Coltrane,
Bobby Byrd,
John Foxx,
Fear,
Sarah Menescal,
Das Ding,
Kayak,
the Bar-Kays,
Suicide,
Young Marble Giants,
The Dead C,
Depeche Mode,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Tom Boy,
Drexciya,
Stereo Dub,
Kool Moe Dee,
Stiv Bators,
Man Eating Sloth,
Curtis Mayfield,
Aloha Tigers,
Deakin,
Gabor Szabo,
Delta 5,
The Happenings,
Supertramp,
Carl Craig,
Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears.
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.