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 Uganda 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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Barclay James Harvest to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Funky Four + One. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
Dawn Penn,
Grey Daturas,
Don Cherry,
Japan,
Basic Channel,
Adolescents,
Television Personalities,
Delon & Dalcan,
June Days,
Monks,
Das Ding,
Y Pants,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Standells,
Ossler,
Nas,
Supertramp,
Mark Hollis,
Funkadelic,
Ken Boothe,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Sonic Youth,
Arab on Radar,
Gang Starr,
The United States of America,
Whodini,
48th St. Collective,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Blues Magoos,
World's Most,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Amon Düül,
the Fania All-Stars,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Seeds,
the Swans,
Royal Trux,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Darondo,
Shuggie Otis,
Metal Thangz,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Moleskins,
Slave,
E-Dancer,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Scan 7,
Theoretical Girls,
Minny Pops,
Average White Band,
Blossom Toes,
Bush Tetras,
Sound Behaviour,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Soft Machine,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Shoche,
Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes.
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.