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 Bangladesh 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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Swans to the dance 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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacob Miller record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Whodini,
The Busters,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Young Marble Giants,
The Sound,
Piero Umiliani,
Yaz,
Guru Guru,
Joe Smooth,
Moby Grape,
Girls At Our Best!,
Connie Case,
Wasted Youth,
Aaron Thompson,
Basic Channel,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Robert Hood,
OOIOO,
Sugar Minott,
Cal Tjader,
Marshall Jefferson,
Tomorrow,
Cameo,
Eli Mardock,
Hot Snakes,
Scientists,
The Slackers,
The Evens,
Kayak,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Ossler,
Audionom,
Nick Fraelich,
These Immortal Souls,
Heaven 17,
Barry Ungar,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Japan,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Rotary Connection,
The Doors,
Mission of Burma,
Ralphi Rosario,
New York Dolls,
Soft Cell,
Terrestrial Tones,
Grandmaster Flash,
Drexciya,
Archie Shepp,
Altered Images,
Joy Division,
Jacques Brel,
Traffic Nightmare,
Quando Quango,
Bizarre Inc.,
Boz Scaggs,
Ultra Naté,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.