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 Nepal and from Tokyo.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Nik Kershaw to the funk 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 Ludus. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gong record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Dirtbombs,
the Bar-Kays,
Rufus Thomas,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Robert Görl,
Quando Quango,
Lou Reed,
The Mummies,
Ossler,
Charles Mingus,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Excepter,
Fugazi,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Fall,
Fat Boys,
Newcleus,
UT,
One Last Wish,
Peter & Gordon,
Piero Umiliani,
Dawn Penn,
Hoover,
T.S.O.L.,
The Raincoats,
Depeche Mode,
Dead Boys,
Sex Pistols,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Smiths,
The Standells,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Lyres,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Unrelated Segments,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Loose Ends,
Aloha Tigers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Anthony Braxton,
David McCallum,
Ultimate Spinach,
Rites of Spring,
Japan,
Arthur Verocai,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Vainqueur,
Deepchord,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Lucky Dragons,
Public Enemy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gang Green,
Brand Nubian,
Magazine,
Sight & Sound,
Subhumans,
Pussy Galore,
The Skatalites,
AZ,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.