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 Rwanda and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 sitar 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Gil Scott Heron. All the underground hits.
All Glenn Branca tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Throbbing Gristle 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pantaleimon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
Niagra,
Livin' Joy,
Soft Machine,
The Gories,
The Saints,
The Modern Lovers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Skaos,
Lungfish,
The Golliwogs,
Mary Jane Girls,
Radiopuhelimet,
Amazonics,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Grey Daturas,
Sound Behaviour,
Curtis Mayfield,
Franke,
Sällskapet,
Mandrill,
Second Layer,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Graham Central Station,
Bad Manners,
Jimmy McGriff,
Scratch Acid,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Popol Vuh,
Swell Maps,
Skriet,
Television,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Depeche Mode,
Cheater Slicks,
Ponytail,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Deepchord,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Yaz,
Soulsonic Force,
cv313,
The Remains,
KRS-One,
Lou Reed,
The Gap Band,
Marc Almond,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sun Ra,
Black Flag,
Absolute Body Control,
Masters at Work,
Half Japanese,
Slave,
Black Bananas,
Lucky Dragons,
The Standells,
Skarface,
Inner City,
Byron Stingily,
The Litter,
Patti Smith,
The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics.
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.