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 Switzerland and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 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 The Pop Group to the disco 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
Black Moon,
Nas,
Ituana,
Pylon,
Popol Vuh,
Severed Heads,
Howard Jones,
Brass Construction,
Joey Negro,
Robert Görl,
Mars,
Dead Boys,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Dawn Penn,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Robert Wyatt,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Fire Engines,
Sun City Girls,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Public Image Ltd.,
Glenn Branca,
Heaven 17,
Arthur Verocai,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Rotary Connection,
Lyres,
Sparks,
Nico,
Albert Ayler,
Basic Channel,
Eurythmics,
Unwound,
ABC,
Jawbox,
New York Dolls,
The Golliwogs,
Soul II Soul,
Brand Nubian,
Byron Stingily,
PIL,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Amazonics,
Roger Hodgson,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bootsy Collins,
Sun Ra,
Brick,
Derrick May,
These Immortal Souls,
JFA,
EPMD,
FM Einheit,
Outsiders,
Minnie Riperton,
Malaria!,
The Flesh Eaters,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.