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 Ivory Coast and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lebanon Hanover. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord 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 sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Leaves,
Shuggie Otis,
Gregory Isaacs,
Tropical Tobacco,
Big Daddy Kane,
LL Cool J,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Interpol,
DNA,
Saccharine Trust,
Black Bananas,
Althea and Donna,
Schoolly D,
Ornette Coleman,
Jacques Brel,
Quantec,
JFA,
F. McDonald,
Suicide,
Aswad,
Basic Channel,
Drive Like Jehu,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Accadde A,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Glambeats Corp.,
Heaven 17,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Easy Going,
Harry Pussy,
The Tremeloes,
Television,
Roger Hodgson,
Black Pus,
Idris Muhammad,
Jacob Miller,
Silicon Teens,
Hardrive,
Pulsallama,
The Busters,
Agitation Free,
The Wake,
Freddie Wadling,
Nico,
Sam Rivers,
Khruangbin,
Max Romeo,
The Sonics,
Vladislav Delay,
Warren Ellis,
The Electric Prunes,
Ultravox,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Buckinghams,
The Victims,
The Blues Magoos,
Outsiders,
Parry Music,
Joe Finger,
X-101,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Liliput,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.