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 Sierra Leone and from Jakarta.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Mexico City.
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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the disco kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Faraquet. All the underground hits.
All Skaos tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fuzztones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spandau Ballet,
Minnie Riperton,
Al Stewart,
Crime,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Andrew Hill,
Loose Ends,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Shuggie Otis,
Electric Prunes,
Rakim,
Fugazi,
Grey Daturas,
Kerri Chandler,
James White and The Blacks,
Shoche,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Standells,
The Count Five,
Scan 7,
Soulsonic Force,
Talk Talk,
X-Ray Spex,
Joe Finger,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Boogie Down Productions,
China Crisis,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Tres Demented,
Radio Birdman,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
June of 44,
Arthur Verocai,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Velvet Underground,
Aural Exciters,
Rapeman,
The Birthday Party,
The Stooges,
The Walker Brothers,
Erykah Badu,
Dawn Penn,
K-Klass,
Pantaleimon,
Hasil Adkins,
Agitation Free,
Gastr Del Sol,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Icehouse,
Barclay James Harvest,
Matthew Bourne,
The Angels of Light,
Jandek,
Jacob Miller,
Pierre Henry,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skriet,
Procol Harum,
Monks,
Hardrive,
The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels, The Beau Brummels.
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.