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 Mongolia and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 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 Funky Four + One to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Sam Rivers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Index record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Byron Stingily record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Urselle,
Main Source,
Fela Kuti,
Joe Smooth,
PIL,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ken Boothe,
Outsiders,
The Detroit Cobras,
Fugazi,
Blake Baxter,
Skaos,
Throbbing Gristle,
Black Pus,
Neil Young,
Judy Mowatt,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Alton Ellis,
Sarah Menescal,
Leonard Cohen,
The Vogues,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Dave Gahan,
Masters at Work,
D'Angelo,
Amon Düül,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
John Coltrane,
T. Rex,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Slits,
Grauzone,
Swell Maps,
Lucky Dragons,
Oneida,
Duran Duran,
The Barracudas,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Trojans,
Thee Headcoats,
Simply Red,
Archie Shepp,
The Real Kids,
The Monochrome Set,
Dead Boys,
Suicide,
Joey Negro,
The Black Dice,
Pierre Henry,
Ten City,
Quantec,
Bobby Womack,
Soul II Soul,
Peter and Kerry,
Intrusion,
Minnie Riperton,
Das Ding,
Japan,
Jeru the Damaja,
Michelle Simonal,
Joy Division,
Eric Copeland, Eric Copeland, Eric Copeland, Eric Copeland.
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.