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 Finland and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Organ to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Young Marble Giants. All the underground hits.
All Jacques Brel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Wake,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Sound,
X-102,
Fugazi,
Delta 5,
Rakim,
Bobby Sherman,
Bush Tetras,
Accadde A,
Pussy Galore,
Television Personalities,
Ten City,
The Toasters,
Au Pairs,
Suicide,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tropical Tobacco,
Kerrie Biddell,
Quando Quango,
The Dave Clark Five,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Buckinghams,
Duran Duran,
Sound Behaviour,
Public Enemy,
Little Man,
Swell Maps,
Gong,
Agitation Free,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Fat Boys,
Bill Near,
Ken Boothe,
Avey Tare,
Jacob Miller,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Skriet,
Amazonics,
Fad Gadget,
Brick,
Althea and Donna,
Malaria!,
the Slits,
The Velvet Underground,
Peter and Kerry,
Marcia Griffiths,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Skarface,
Peter & Gordon,
Loose Ends,
David McCallum,
Jerry's Kids,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Yaz,
The Human League,
Eve St. Jones,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Pagans,
Donny Hathaway,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.