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 Grenada and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 güiro 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 Marshall Jefferson 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 Slackers. All the underground hits.
All Liaisons Dangereuses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Radiohead 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The New Christs,
Ice-T,
Au Pairs,
Fad Gadget,
Kaleidoscope,
Hoover,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Easy Going,
The Evens,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
OOIOO,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Henry Cow,
Crispy Ambulance,
Archie Shepp,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Inner City,
Country Teasers,
The Buckinghams,
Sexual Harrassment,
JFA,
Audionom,
X-Ray Spex,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Cowsills,
The Alarm Clocks,
Guru Guru,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Dorothy Ashby,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Smiths,
Amon Düül II,
FM Einheit,
New Order,
Gong,
Babytalk,
Aaron Thompson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Blackbyrds,
Boredoms,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Groovy Waters,
Animal Collective,
Ituana,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Cosmic Jokers,
MDC,
Laurel Aitken,
The Blues Magoos,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Harpers Bizarre,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bob Dylan,
Johnny Clarke,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Modern Lovers,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Slits,
Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson.
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.