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 Ecuador and from Hong Kong.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Seoul.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family 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 cv313. All the underground hits.
All Shuggie Otis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quadrant,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Gabor Szabo,
Bauhaus,
The Busters,
Q and Not U,
Lalo Schifrin,
Eve St. Jones,
Tommy Roe,
Alison Limerick,
The Sonics,
Main Source,
Heaven 17,
Boz Scaggs,
Gang Green,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Derrick May,
Barry Ungar,
Man Parrish,
Easy Going,
Brick,
Joey Negro,
Agent Orange,
Talk Talk,
Lou Christie,
Yellowson,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Evens,
The Barracudas,
Black Moon,
Fat Boys,
Neu!,
Gerry Rafferty,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sparks,
Los Fastidios,
Echospace,
Sonic Youth,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Icehouse,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The American Breed,
X-Ray Spex,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Toasters,
Cybotron,
Sight & Sound,
Tomorrow,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Bronski Beat,
Alice Coltrane,
Basic Channel,
The New Christs,
Livin' Joy,
the Fania All-Stars,
ABBA,
Aloha Tigers,
AZ,
The Seeds,
Reagan Youth,
Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics.
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.