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 Uganda and from Calgary.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 R.M.O. to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All Ultravox tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dead Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pere Ubu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kerrie Biddell,
Donald Byrd,
Sam Rivers,
Donny Hathaway,
Patti Smith,
48th St. Collective,
Ludus,
Janne Schatter,
The Blackbyrds,
Terry Callier,
Bobby Byrd,
The Misunderstood,
The United States of America,
Crash Course in Science,
Quando Quango,
Cheater Slicks,
LL Cool J,
Von Mondo,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Godley & Creme,
The Motions,
Wolf Eyes,
Bobbi Humphrey,
FM Einheit,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Max Romeo,
The Star Department,
Sister Nancy,
Peter & Gordon,
Fugazi,
Pharoah Sanders,
Magma,
The Happenings,
Hoover,
China Crisis,
Pylon,
World's Most,
Bang On A Can,
The Fugs,
Schoolly D,
Sexual Harrassment,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Standells,
U.S. Maple,
Motorama,
Lightning Bolt,
Average White Band,
Lucky Dragons,
Porter Ricks,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Fuzztones,
Johnny Clarke,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Cal Tjader,
Electric Prunes,
Bluetip,
The Fortunes,
Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul.
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.