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 Lithuania and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 marimba 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 LL Cool J 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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All Shuggie Otis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Electric Prunes 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
Television Personalities,
Lou Reed,
Magazine,
Todd Terry,
48th St. Collective,
Minutemen,
Grey Daturas,
Inner City,
Bobby Womack,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Max Romeo,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Siglo XX,
Hardrive,
Ronnie Foster,
Basic Channel,
The Doobie Brothers,
World's Most,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Scrapy,
Supertramp,
Bill Near,
Eve St. Jones,
Avey Tare,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Tommy Roe,
Reuben Wilson,
The Slits,
The Slackers,
Bluetip,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Prince Buster,
Das Ding,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pantytec,
Ultra Naté,
Fela Kuti,
T. Rex,
Groovy Waters,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Unwound,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Arthur Verocai,
The Buckinghams,
Suburban Knight,
Lucky Dragons,
Talk Talk,
June of 44,
Von Mondo,
Joe Finger,
Grauzone,
Mark Hollis,
the Slits,
Stiv Bators,
Dave Gahan,
Lungfish,
Sun Ra,
Banda Bassotti,
Urselle,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party, The Birthday Party.
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.