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 Uzbekistan and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 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 Maleditus Sound to the grunge 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 Sandy B. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Real Kids 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 a theremin and an arpeggiator 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 güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Negative Approach,
Ludus,
Tim Buckley,
Anthony Braxton,
Ohio Players,
Livin' Joy,
Bauhaus,
Clear Light,
Juan Atkins,
The Moody Blues,
The Fire Engines,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Invisible,
The Evens,
Pantaleimon,
Oneida,
E-Dancer,
The Residents,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Michelle Simonal,
Sugar Minott,
Dark Day,
Rotary Connection,
Angry Samoans,
Marcia Griffiths,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Gap Band,
Adolescents,
Brick,
Boogie Down Productions,
Chris Corsano,
The Knickerbockers,
Arcadia,
Electric Prunes,
Intrusion,
Icehouse,
The Moleskins,
Youth Brigade,
The Mummies,
The Happenings,
Fatback Band,
Johnny Clarke,
Spoonie Gee,
Steve Hackett,
Yusef Lateef,
La Düsseldorf,
Letta Mbulu,
Peter & Gordon,
Nils Olav,
Agent Orange,
FM Einheit,
Quadrant,
Bill Near,
Grandmaster Flash,
Franke,
Gang Gang Dance,
Yazoo,
Babytalk,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.