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 Lebanon and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 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 Subhumans to the grime 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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Excepter,
Bad Manners,
a-ha,
H. Thieme,
Pylon,
Rotary Connection,
Q65,
Agitation Free,
The Gap Band,
X-Ray Spex,
The Happenings,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Josef K,
A Certain Ratio,
The Smiths,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
F. McDonald,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Evens,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Tomorrow,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
R.M.O.,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Vogues,
Country Teasers,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Cowsills,
Monks,
Silicon Teens,
Nation of Ulysses,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Radiohead,
The Moody Blues,
Can,
Gang of Four,
David Axelrod,
Suicide,
Adolescents,
Motorama,
Marcia Griffiths,
Skaos,
AZ,
Sam Rivers,
The Mummies,
Lungfish,
Eyeless In Gaza,
48th St. Collective,
Radiopuhelimet,
Intrusion,
Symarip,
Deakin,
Popol Vuh,
Chris & Cosey,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Marvin Gaye,
Arcadia,
Lyres,
Liliput,
Fear,
Gang Green,
PIL,
Ohio Players,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.