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 Paraguay and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Bob Dylan to the electroclash 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 Scratch Acid. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Litter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a AZ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
The Divine Comedy,
Funky Four + One,
Minutemen,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
John Holt,
Bauhaus,
Dawn Penn,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Eli Mardock,
the Sonics,
The Shadows of Knight,
Qualms,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ponytail,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Flipper,
China Crisis,
Pantaleimon,
The Associates,
The Offenders,
CMW,
Curtis Mayfield,
EPMD,
Los Fastidios,
Model 500,
Ultravox,
Whodini,
The Cowsills,
In Retrospect,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Graham Central Station,
The Count Five,
Subhumans,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Move,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Absolute Body Control,
Bill Near,
Groovy Waters,
Aswad,
The Toasters,
Jeru the Damaja,
Malaria!,
Nik Kershaw,
Excepter,
Outsiders,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lou Reed,
Gil Scott Heron,
Lower 48,
Mary Jane Girls,
Joy Division,
Neil Young,
The Slits,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.