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 Chile and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Holger Czukay 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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch to the dance 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 Hashim. All the underground hits.
All Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Janne Schatter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacques Brel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Pole,
Shuggie Otis,
Ohio Players,
One Last Wish,
Warren Ellis,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
UT,
Minny Pops,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Misunderstood,
Popol Vuh,
Rufus Thomas,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Black Bananas,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Thee Headcoats,
The Happenings,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Howard Jones,
Gregory Isaacs,
Spoonie Gee,
The Mummies,
The Grass Roots,
Faust,
The Standells,
The Gories,
Brand Nubian,
Peter and Kerry,
John Cale,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Motorama,
Johnny Clarke,
The Sound,
Mo-Dettes,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ronnie Foster,
Electric Prunes,
The United States of America,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Television Personalities,
Accadde A,
The Walker Brothers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Camberwell Now,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Bill Wells,
Intrusion,
Yellowson,
Marvin Gaye,
Lungfish,
The Monks,
John Holt,
Boz Scaggs,
Loose Ends,
The Music Machine,
Section 25,
Outsiders,
Archie Shepp,
Erasure,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.