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 Niger and from Paris.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 oboe 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 Wings to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All B.T. Express tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bobby Womack record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Con Funk Shun,
the Bar-Kays,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Bauhaus,
Bush Tetras,
The Fugs,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
New York Dolls,
ABC,
Iggy Pop,
Average White Band,
The Blues Magoos,
Slave,
Judy Mowatt,
OOIOO,
Quadrant,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Interpol,
Robert Wyatt,
Curtis Mayfield,
KRS-One,
Spoonie Gee,
Johnny Clarke,
Essential Logic,
Moby Grape,
Moebius,
Japan,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eli Mardock,
Shuggie Otis,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Matthew Halsall,
UT,
Sandy B,
Bootsy Collins,
Guru Guru,
Lakeside,
John Lydon,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Pierre Henry,
Idris Muhammad,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lower 48,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Groovy Waters,
Mantronix,
Dawn Penn,
Das Ding,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Franke,
Sex Pistols,
The United States of America,
James White and The Blacks,
Aaron Thompson,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Nas,
Don Cherry,
Blossom Toes,
The American Breed,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Supertramp,
The Misunderstood,
Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls.
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.