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 Vanuatu and from Copenhagen.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Clear Light to the disco 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 Ten City. All the underground hits.
All Danielle Patucci tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Metal Thangz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stetsasonic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tommy Roe,
Agent Orange,
Make Up,
The Cure,
Davy DMX,
Bobby Byrd,
T.S.O.L.,
Joe Smooth,
Groovy Waters,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Rosa Yemen,
Glenn Branca,
The Music Machine,
Aloha Tigers,
Funkadelic,
Delta 5,
Q and Not U,
Prince Buster,
Chris & Cosey,
The Buckinghams,
John Foxx,
Amazonics,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Dirtbombs,
Dead Boys,
T. Rex,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Raincoats,
Accadde A,
The Human League,
Patti Smith,
Bootsy Collins,
Khruangbin,
The Residents,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Ultravox,
Average White Band,
Clear Light,
The Doobie Brothers,
Livin' Joy,
Barry Ungar,
Wolf Eyes,
the Association,
The Moleskins,
The Pop Group,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Stetsasonic,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ituana,
June Days,
the Slits,
the Soft Cell,
Johnny Clarke,
Judy Mowatt,
Gichy Dan,
Blake Baxter,
Index,
Niagra,
Graham Central Station,
Leonard Cohen,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.