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 Bhutan and from London.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Alarm Clocks to the rap 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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All The Gories tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Traffic Nightmare record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ituana,
Moby Grape,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Stetsasonic,
cv313,
Dennis Brown,
Bad Manners,
Jandek,
Massinfluence,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Victims,
Kevin Saunderson,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Rosa Yemen,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Aswad,
Arab on Radar,
Suburban Knight,
Fugazi,
The Smoke,
The Five Americans,
Public Image Ltd.,
Surgeon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Ten City,
Outsiders,
Brand Nubian,
Scratch Acid,
Joensuu 1685,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Amon Düül,
Audionom,
Barbara Tucker,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Offenders,
Spoonie Gee,
A Certain Ratio,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Soul Sonic Force,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Gichy Dan,
Fatback Band,
Eve St. Jones,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Selecter,
Alton Ellis,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Knickerbockers,
Derrick Morgan,
Sex Pistols,
Roger Hodgson,
Amon Düül II,
Niagra,
Nation of Ulysses,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Invisible,
Josef K,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bob Dylan,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.