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 Zambia and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Houston.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the snare 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 Eli Mardock to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All Monolake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every D'Angelo 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Schoolly D,
Jeff Mills,
Pole,
The Trojans,
Sugar Minott,
Avey Tare,
Stiv Bators,
Average White Band,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Desert Stars,
Spoonie Gee,
Amon Düül II,
Khruangbin,
Eli Mardock,
Siglo XX,
Yellowson,
the Normal,
Kerri Chandler,
Essential Logic,
Mad Mike,
Adolescents,
Godley & Creme,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Magma,
Crooked Eye,
Agitation Free,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Prince Buster,
Japan,
Malaria!,
Rites of Spring,
Crash Course in Science,
Ralphi Rosario,
Boogie Down Productions,
Gabor Szabo,
Whodini,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Grauzone,
Wolf Eyes,
The Star Department,
Pierre Henry,
Buzzcocks,
F. McDonald,
Sarah Menescal,
Fugazi,
Moss Icon,
Robert Wyatt,
H. Thieme,
The Velvet Underground,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Crispian St. Peters,
Public Image Ltd.,
Cybotron,
Little Man,
Ponytail,
The Gories,
Swans,
Brass Construction,
Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana.
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.