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 India and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Misunderstood to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Young Marble Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
a-ha,
DNA,
JFA,
The Five Americans,
Prince Buster,
Harmonia,
Skaos,
Sam Rivers,
These Immortal Souls,
The Litter,
The Invisible,
EPMD,
Smog,
Mad Mike,
Magazine,
Scion,
The Pretty Things,
Connie Case,
The Detroit Cobras,
Soulsonic Force,
Main Source,
Black Sheep,
The Tremeloes,
Kayak,
The Grass Roots,
Qualms,
Erykah Badu,
Intrusion,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Judy Mowatt,
kango's stein massive,
David Axelrod,
Anthony Braxton,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Grandmaster Flash,
Deakin,
The Last Poets,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sugar Minott,
KRS-One,
The Count Five,
Derrick Morgan,
Chris & Cosey,
Fluxion,
Throbbing Gristle,
John Cale,
Siglo XX,
UT,
Livin' Joy,
Scrapy,
The Associates,
The Searchers,
Roger Hodgson,
Fela Kuti,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth.
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.