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 Cambodia and from Edmonton.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Tehran.
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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Scott Walker + Sunn O))) to the jazz 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 Ken Boothe. All the underground hits.
All Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacques Brel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Amon Düül,
Skaos,
The Star Department,
June of 44,
Technova,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Juan Atkins,
Alice Coltrane,
Black Flag,
Neil Young,
ABBA,
The Leaves,
Crooked Eye,
Livin' Joy,
The Blues Magoos,
The Pretty Things,
Freddie Wadling,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pagans,
Hardrive,
Easy Going,
Ossler,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
China Crisis,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Camouflage,
Pylon,
EPMD,
Ralphi Rosario,
Steve Hackett,
The Stooges,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Johnny Clarke,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Cheater Slicks,
Fluxion,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Youth Brigade,
Charles Mingus,
Bobby Byrd,
Jawbox,
The American Breed,
Quando Quango,
The Black Dice,
Au Pairs,
Bauhaus,
D'Angelo,
Sun Ra,
Junior Murvin,
Michelle Simonal,
Scratch Acid,
The Moleskins,
Tropical Tobacco,
the Germs,
Crispy Ambulance,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Metal Thangz,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.