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 Kiribati and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the grunge 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Maurizio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scan 7 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Rhythm & Sound,
Rufus Thomas,
Minor Threat,
The Saints,
Terrestrial Tones,
Marc Almond,
the Association,
Harpers Bizarre,
Jacques Brel,
Byron Stingily,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Das Ding,
A Certain Ratio,
Soul II Soul,
Second Layer,
The Trojans,
Don Cherry,
the Soft Cell,
The Associates,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Babytalk,
Marcia Griffiths,
the Bar-Kays,
Drive Like Jehu,
Blossom Toes,
Eric Dolphy,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Tomorrow,
Toni Rubio,
Matthew Bourne,
the Normal,
the Swans,
Susan Cadogan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Motorama,
Unrelated Segments,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
World's Most,
Nils Olav,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Davy DMX,
Absolute Body Control,
The Evens,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Brass Construction,
The Modern Lovers,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Jawbox,
Neil Young,
Animal Collective,
Mo-Dettes,
The Busters,
Soft Cell,
Joe Smooth,
Gerry Rafferty,
Camberwell Now,
Lyres,
Barbara Tucker,
Jerry's Kids,
The Index, The Index, The Index, The Index.
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.