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 Zambia and from Lyon.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Beijing.
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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the dance 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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television,
Flamin' Groovies,
Neu!,
Chris & Cosey,
Wings,
Lightning Bolt,
Curtis Mayfield,
Swell Maps,
Spandau Ballet,
Sixth Finger,
The Black Dice,
Alice Coltrane,
DJ Style,
Eric B and Rakim,
Masters at Work,
These Immortal Souls,
Spoonie Gee,
Mark Hollis,
Icehouse,
Main Source,
Joensuu 1685,
Whodini,
Lungfish,
Donald Byrd,
Kas Product,
The Vogues,
Intrusion,
Tim Buckley,
Oneida,
Lebanon Hanover,
Cameo,
Alison Limerick,
Avey Tare,
Gang Gang Dance,
Minutemen,
Andrew Hill,
La Düsseldorf,
Black Pus,
Aaron Thompson,
Newcleus,
Jeff Mills,
Ohio Players,
The Flesh Eaters,
Suburban Knight,
H. Thieme,
Theoretical Girls,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Funkadelic,
Silicon Teens,
Dead Boys,
The Stooges,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Gories,
Bobby Womack,
The Last Poets,
Max Romeo,
The Smoke,
the Normal,
The Grass Roots,
T. Rex,
Derrick Morgan,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Amon Düül,
Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth.
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.