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 Tunisia and from Madrid.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Boz Scaggs to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Fortunes. All the underground hits.
All David McCallum tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marc Almond record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 güiro and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
Supertramp,
Jawbox,
Lindisfarne,
Wire,
Soul II Soul,
Bluetip,
Smog,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Banda Bassotti,
Nas,
Donald Byrd,
the Normal,
The Sonics,
Bad Manners,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Dead Boys,
Sugar Minott,
Sarah Menescal,
Malaria!,
OOIOO,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Aloha Tigers,
Flash Fearless,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
MC5,
Rosa Yemen,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
X-101,
Pantaleimon,
Patti Smith,
Sex Pistols,
The Angels of Light,
The Divine Comedy,
Deadbeat,
Groovy Waters,
Throbbing Gristle,
Main Source,
the Fania All-Stars,
Eden Ahbez,
Lyres,
Hasil Adkins,
Bootsy Collins,
Joey Negro,
Davy DMX,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Flesh Eaters,
Andrew Hill,
Kerri Chandler,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gregory Isaacs,
Kaleidoscope,
Soft Machine,
Silicon Teens,
Animal Collective,
the Sonics,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Talk Talk,
Todd Terry,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day, Dark Day.
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.