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 Sri Lanka and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Robert Palmer 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 The Pretty Things to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Cymande. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sound record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Black Bananas,
Section 25,
Parry Music,
Toni Rubio,
T. Rex,
Derrick May,
Bizarre Inc.,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Severed Heads,
The Remains,
MDC,
Monks,
Malaria!,
Soft Machine,
These Immortal Souls,
Alphaville,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Camberwell Now,
Lou Christie,
Arab on Radar,
The Skatalites,
FM Einheit,
Fat Boys,
Connie Case,
Black Moon,
Soft Cell,
Panda Bear,
New Age Steppers,
Monolake,
Brand Nubian,
Man Eating Sloth,
Terry Callier,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Zapp,
The Smiths,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ludus,
The Count Five,
Moebius,
Todd Rundgren,
Crispian St. Peters,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
10cc,
the Association,
Lindisfarne,
Stiv Bators,
The Last Poets,
The Offenders,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Desert Stars,
Hardrive,
Charles Mingus,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Eric Copeland,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.