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 Mozambique and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Ice-T to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Flash Fearless. All the underground hits.
All Crash Course in Science tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
D'Angelo,
The Angels of Light,
La Düsseldorf,
Cybotron,
Kaleidoscope,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Trojans,
Spoonie Gee,
Johnny Osbourne,
Man Parrish,
Suicide,
Dave Gahan,
Sex Pistols,
Grey Daturas,
Archie Shepp,
AZ,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Rakim,
The Searchers,
Peter & Gordon,
June Days,
Gastr Del Sol,
Quadrant,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gichy Dan,
Zero Boys,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
David Bowie,
Ludus,
Neu!,
Y Pants,
Marshall Jefferson,
cv313,
Severed Heads,
Los Fastidios,
Delta 5,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cameo,
Dead Boys,
Panda Bear,
Kas Product,
Ponytail,
ABBA,
Alice Coltrane,
Hot Snakes,
The Evens,
Glenn Branca,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ultravox,
Sugar Minott,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Birthday Party,
Fluxion,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Crash Course in Science,
Tubeway Army,
Scion,
Theoretical Girls,
The Associates,
Simply Red,
Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade.
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.