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 France and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Robert Palmer 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 Agent Orange to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Buckinghams. All the underground hits.
All Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Vaughan Mason & Crew 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Thee Headcoats,
E-Dancer,
Nas,
Aaron Thompson,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Junior Murvin,
Pylon,
Easy Going,
Little Man,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Kool Moe Dee,
The United States of America,
Crooked Eye,
The Motions,
Eden Ahbez,
The Birthday Party,
Avey Tare,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Terry Callier,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bill Near,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Searchers,
Main Source,
Nick Fraelich,
Black Moon,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
KRS-One,
the Swans,
The Blues Magoos,
Cymande,
Godley & Creme,
The Barracudas,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kayak,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Guru Guru,
Nik Kershaw,
Gerry Rafferty,
F. McDonald,
Clear Light,
Matthew Halsall,
Aloha Tigers,
The Saints,
Cecil Taylor,
Lee Hazlewood,
Morten Harket,
the Soft Cell,
Erasure,
Neil Young,
Organ,
K-Klass,
Nirvana,
The Mummies,
Interpol,
Parry Music,
Quadrant,
the Sonics,
Trumans Water,
John Coltrane,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.