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 Vietnam and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Tehran.
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 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 Sun Ra Arkestra 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 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fall record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monolake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Fugazi,
Oneida,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Jawbox,
Clear Light,
Man Eating Sloth,
Lalo Schifrin,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Big Daddy Kane,
Maurizio,
Black Bananas,
Sandy B,
Matthew Halsall,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ronan,
Gastr Del Sol,
Duran Duran,
The Durutti Column,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Das Ding,
Thee Headcoats,
Silicon Teens,
Pole,
Niagra,
Smog,
Todd Rundgren,
Throbbing Gristle,
Rosa Yemen,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Delta 5,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Barrington Levy,
Wasted Youth,
Sonic Youth,
Excepter,
Eli Mardock,
the Normal,
Jeru the Damaja,
Max Romeo,
The Real Kids,
the Slits,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Crime,
Scion,
Tomorrow,
Lee Hazlewood,
Lindisfarne,
A Certain Ratio,
Steve Hackett,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Move,
Monks,
Glenn Branca,
Marine Girls,
Ituana,
JFA,
Shoche,
Harpers Bizarre,
Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17, Heaven 17.
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.