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 Tonga and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 clarinet 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 Schoolly D to the punk 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 PIL. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a kango's stein massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
Pere Ubu,
Sun City Girls,
The Happenings,
Niagra,
The Moleskins,
The Mojo Men,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
John Cale,
Marmalade,
Black Moon,
Adolescents,
Mantronix,
Rapeman,
Piero Umiliani,
Byron Stingily,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ossler,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Kas Product,
Brick,
Simply Red,
Man Parrish,
Alice Coltrane,
The J.B.'s,
Interpol,
Porter Ricks,
ABBA,
Parry Music,
The Gap Band,
Black Pus,
Sun Ra,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Audionom,
Spoonie Gee,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Guru Guru,
John Coltrane,
Faust,
Blancmange,
Radio Birdman,
Radiohead,
Cecil Taylor,
Drexciya,
Bronski Beat,
E-Dancer,
Duran Duran,
The Grass Roots,
Leonard Cohen,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Skriet,
Crooked Eye,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
China Crisis,
Minor Threat,
The Move,
Grauzone,
Kevin Saunderson,
Traffic Nightmare,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes.
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.