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 Gambia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 Taipei and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Ituana to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Young Rascals. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Television record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
E-Dancer,
Nils Olav,
Mantronix,
Arab on Radar,
Deakin,
Pylon,
Rhythm & Sound,
Procol Harum,
Eddi Front,
Buzzcocks,
Ralphi Rosario,
Television,
Sister Nancy,
Toni Rubio,
48th St. Collective,
8 Eyed Spy,
Second Layer,
Ponytail,
The Blackbyrds,
Bobby Byrd,
Soul II Soul,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bauhaus,
Neu!,
Niagra,
Soul Sonic Force,
Laurel Aitken,
Charles Mingus,
The Dead C,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sun Ra,
Black Pus,
Minutemen,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Massinfluence,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Dave Clark Five,
Joe Smooth,
Bobbi Humphrey,
the Bar-Kays,
Das Ding,
The Music Machine,
Jacob Miller,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ultimate Spinach,
Robert Hood,
Von Mondo,
Gichy Dan,
Eli Mardock,
Grauzone,
Gang of Four,
Warsaw,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gang Starr,
Funky Four + One,
Grandmaster Flash,
Susan Cadogan,
Cecil Taylor,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Camouflage,
Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens.
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.