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 Lesotho and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 synthesizer 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 Lower 48 to the rock 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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Buckinghams record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The J.B.'s,
Pole,
Lightning Bolt,
Johnny Clarke,
Ten City,
Can,
Funkadelic,
Essential Logic,
Agent Orange,
Nirvana,
Blossom Toes,
Wolf Eyes,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cal Tjader,
The Gladiators,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Laurel Aitken,
Pantaleimon,
Section 25,
Archie Shepp,
Arab on Radar,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rotary Connection,
Talk Talk,
Pierre Henry,
Barrington Levy,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Scan 7,
T.S.O.L.,
The Mojo Men,
The Fortunes,
The Count Five,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Velvet Underground,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Audionom,
Icehouse,
Gong,
Bauhaus,
Jeff Mills,
Cecil Taylor,
Yazoo,
Organ,
Bob Dylan,
Joey Negro,
Hoover,
Hashim,
Qualms,
Minor Threat,
Bizarre Inc.,
Colin Newman,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Black Sheep,
the Soft Cell,
The Star Department,
The Happenings,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.