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 Montenegro and from Lagos.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Drive Like Jehu to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ultravox. All the underground hits.
All Gang Starr tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shuggie Otis 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Jeru the Damaja,
Connie Case,
Eve St. Jones,
Howard Jones,
Royal Trux,
Matthew Halsall,
Gong,
Radiohead,
Soul Sonic Force,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
EPMD,
The Litter,
Mantronix,
James White and The Blacks,
the Association,
Marcia Griffiths,
Unrelated Segments,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Fall,
The Last Poets,
Skaos,
Goldenarms,
Amon Düül II,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Maleditus Sound,
Ronan,
Derrick Morgan,
Marshall Jefferson,
Soft Cell,
Adolescents,
Average White Band,
Henry Cow,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bang On A Can,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Dave Clark Five,
Anthony Braxton,
Scott Walker,
Stockholm Monsters,
Rapeman,
10cc,
The Names,
Q and Not U,
Whodini,
The Stooges,
Yaz,
Stereo Dub,
Judy Mowatt,
Warren Ellis,
the Sonics,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Ronnie Foster,
Byron Stingily,
Livin' Joy,
Minutemen,
Thompson Twins,
Mo-Dettes,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Rites of Spring,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bobby Sherman,
Kaleidoscope,
Eric Dolphy,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.