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 Ivory Coast and from Tokyo.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gerry Rafferty to the electroclash 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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Junior Murvin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobbi Humphrey,
Eric Copeland,
La Düsseldorf,
R.M.O.,
Dark Day,
B.T. Express,
Ken Boothe,
Tomorrow,
Rites of Spring,
Albert Ayler,
Can,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Symarip,
The Blackbyrds,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Young Rascals,
Ossler,
the Sonics,
Radiohead,
PIL,
Anakelly,
Tim Buckley,
Cecil Taylor,
Television,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Q and Not U,
Chris & Cosey,
Motorama,
Popol Vuh,
Sam Rivers,
Pagans,
Panda Bear,
Ten City,
Kool Moe Dee,
Marine Girls,
The Happenings,
Rapeman,
Black Sheep,
The Monochrome Set,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Black Bananas,
Reuben Wilson,
Spoonie Gee,
Yazoo,
the Germs,
Frankie Knuckles,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Alarm Clocks,
Japan,
Kenny Larkin,
Country Teasers,
the Association,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Invisible,
JFA,
The Star Department,
Vladislav Delay,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Y Pants,
Alphaville,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Wire,
Soul II Soul,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.