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 Eritrea and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Brass Construction to the grime 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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Drexciya tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crispian St. Peters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Glenn Branca record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
DNA,
The Blackbyrds,
Gastr Del Sol,
Piero Umiliani,
Visage,
David McCallum,
Maleditus Sound,
The Cure,
Althea and Donna,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Popol Vuh,
Lungfish,
the Association,
Zapp,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Fortunes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Camberwell Now,
Johnny Clarke,
Massinfluence,
Anthony Braxton,
The Real Kids,
Man Parrish,
Jacques Brel,
Section 25,
Roy Ayers,
The Sound,
Charles Mingus,
Rufus Thomas,
The Barracudas,
Nik Kershaw,
Jeff Mills,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rekid,
R.M.O.,
Au Pairs,
the Normal,
Chris & Cosey,
The Buckinghams,
Main Source,
Dave Gahan,
This Heat,
Scrapy,
Alphaville,
Sex Pistols,
Quadrant,
Stockholm Monsters,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Gang Green,
Patti Smith,
Agent Orange,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Nirvana,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Byron Stingily,
Ronan,
Wasted Youth,
Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw, Warsaw.
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.