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 South Sudan 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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 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 New Age Steppers to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lizzy Mercier Descloux record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bobby Sherman,
Laurel Aitken,
Sun City Girls,
Don Cherry,
10cc,
Spandau Ballet,
Sly & The Family Stone,
DJ Style,
Swell Maps,
The Doobie Brothers,
Kas Product,
The Vogues,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Standells,
T. Rex,
the Normal,
48th St. Collective,
Roxy Music,
Faraquet,
Suicide,
Chris Corsano,
Average White Band,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
X-101,
Cameo,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Y Pants,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Knickerbockers,
Patti Smith,
The Saints,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bootsy Collins,
Marcia Griffiths,
Iggy Pop,
Lightning Bolt,
Ultra Naté,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
David Bowie,
Soul II Soul,
Agent Orange,
The Beau Brummels,
Alton Ellis,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Deepchord,
Banda Bassotti,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Star Department,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Soft Machine,
The Invisible,
Joensuu 1685,
Ice-T,
Marvin Gaye,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Terry Callier,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar.
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.