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 South Sudan and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Philadelphia and Paris.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the snare 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 Swell Maps to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Ajijia Myrayebe. All the underground hits.
All Spoonie Gee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Colin Newman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lee Hazlewood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Byron Stingily,
Ken Boothe,
The Tremeloes,
MDC,
Pet Shop Boys,
Liliput,
cv313,
Moebius,
Electric Prunes,
Y Pants,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Josef K,
Soft Machine,
Barry Ungar,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Saccharine Trust,
Mo-Dettes,
Joy Division,
Todd Terry,
Flamin' Groovies,
Warren Ellis,
Prince Buster,
The Black Dice,
Black Pus,
Deakin,
Skarface,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
8 Eyed Spy,
Colin Newman,
MC5,
The Blues Magoos,
the Bar-Kays,
Anthony Braxton,
Reagan Youth,
The Toasters,
The Searchers,
Vainqueur,
Cameo,
Smog,
Robert Görl,
The Beau Brummels,
Jeru the Damaja,
Hardrive,
Outsiders,
The United States of America,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sarah Menescal,
X-102,
Eric B and Rakim,
Public Image Ltd.,
Slave,
Qualms,
Severed Heads,
David McCallum,
Black Moon,
The Fall,
Amon Düül II,
Little Man,
The Associates,
Eve St. Jones,
Terrestrial Tones,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.