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 Antigua and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Fugs. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Clear Light 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 theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lightning Bolt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
Silicon Teens,
Alice Coltrane,
Man Eating Sloth,
Blossom Toes,
Organ,
Harry Pussy,
Pere Ubu,
Barbara Tucker,
PIL,
Lindisfarne,
Interpol,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Pulsallama,
Colin Newman,
Dead Boys,
James White and The Blacks,
The Modern Lovers,
Radiohead,
Spandau Ballet,
Joensuu 1685,
Bill Near,
The Trojans,
Don Cherry,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Last Poets,
Severed Heads,
Wasted Youth,
Faust,
Arcadia,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Sound,
Excepter,
The Monochrome Set,
DNA,
The Alarm Clocks,
Anthony Braxton,
The Evens,
Leonard Cohen,
Bobby Sherman,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Divine Comedy,
The Dirtbombs,
The Kinks,
Ronnie Foster,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sparks,
Shoche,
Judy Mowatt,
Lakeside,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Johnny Clarke,
David Axelrod,
A Flock of Seagulls,
June Days,
Anakelly,
Iggy Pop,
Prince Buster,
Delon & Dalcan,
Michelle Simonal,
Soul Sonic Force,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.