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 China and from Stockholm.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Bang On A Can to the grime 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 Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Buckinghams 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Icehouse,
Suburban Knight,
Chris & Cosey,
K-Klass,
Idris Muhammad,
MDC,
Faraquet,
Soul II Soul,
Kaleidoscope,
Soulsonic Force,
A Certain Ratio,
Talk Talk,
Thompson Twins,
Pulsallama,
Gabor Szabo,
Fear,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Velvet Underground,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Rod Modell,
The Human League,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sex Pistols,
Bill Wells,
Quando Quango,
Ultimate Spinach,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Isaac Hayes,
Bronski Beat,
In Retrospect,
Outsiders,
Toni Rubio,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Wolf Eyes,
Nico,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Absolute Body Control,
Aaron Thompson,
Barrington Levy,
Dual Sessions,
The Residents,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Barracudas,
The Sound,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Porter Ricks,
PIL,
Public Enemy,
Todd Terry,
Ornette Coleman,
Scion,
The Dirtbombs,
Sparks,
Warsaw,
D'Angelo,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Lucky Dragons,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Foster.
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.