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 Malta and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Salvador.
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 harpsichord 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 Donald Byrd to the techno 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 Jawbox. All the underground hits.
All Frankie Knuckles tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flash Fearless record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
Fatback Band,
Severed Heads,
Ohio Players,
Dual Sessions,
The Gap Band,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Goldenarms,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rosa Yemen,
Cybotron,
CMW,
Minnie Riperton,
Terry Callier,
Rekid,
AZ,
The Slits,
Hardrive,
The Dirtbombs,
Steve Hackett,
Alice Coltrane,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lalo Schifrin,
Pharoah Sanders,
Davy DMX,
The Real Kids,
The Knickerbockers,
Vainqueur,
Groovy Waters,
John Holt,
Absolute Body Control,
The Smoke,
The Count Five,
Dennis Brown,
Outsiders,
The Shadows of Knight,
Alphaville,
Bob Dylan,
Rites of Spring,
Trumans Water,
U.S. Maple,
MC5,
Bad Manners,
The Toasters,
Shuggie Otis,
Derrick May,
Neu!,
Pagans,
One Last Wish,
Idris Muhammad,
Cluster,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Qualms,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Cal Tjader,
Freddie Wadling,
Ornette Coleman,
L. Decosne,
The Techniques,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Niagra,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.