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 Gabon and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 harpsichord 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 Man Eating Sloth to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All Soulsonic Force tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crime record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a MC5 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donny Hathaway,
Mo-Dettes,
The Mojo Men,
The J.B.'s,
The United States of America,
Marshall Jefferson,
Deepchord,
Niagra,
Soft Cell,
Hardrive,
Young Marble Giants,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Janne Schatter,
Bobby Womack,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Raincoats,
Cluster,
Marc Almond,
Yusef Lateef,
Faraquet,
Gang Gang Dance,
Roy Ayers,
Cecil Taylor,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bill Near,
ABC,
Letta Mbulu,
Talk Talk,
Aloha Tigers,
Moebius,
Silicon Teens,
Kenny Larkin,
The Blackbyrds,
Sight & Sound,
These Immortal Souls,
Fad Gadget,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Bill Wells,
The Doobie Brothers,
48th St. Collective,
Gabor Szabo,
Buzzcocks,
Hashim,
Junior Murvin,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Nas,
Rod Modell,
Television,
Mr. Review,
One Last Wish,
Popol Vuh,
Amazonics,
Tim Buckley,
Fluxion,
Minny Pops,
Surgeon,
Johnny Clarke,
The Smiths,
Scientists,
Cheater Slicks,
Roxy Music, Roxy Music, Roxy Music, Roxy Music.
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.