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 Ethiopia 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin 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 Eric Copeland to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Accadde A. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott Heron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Searchers,
Archie Shepp,
Quadrant,
Barry Ungar,
Pierre Henry,
Grey Daturas,
Lightning Bolt,
Half Japanese,
Intrusion,
The Techniques,
James White and The Blacks,
Drive Like Jehu,
Delta 5,
Toni Rubio,
The Raincoats,
Public Enemy,
Japan,
The Star Department,
Cecil Taylor,
Tom Boy,
Cybotron,
Mantronix,
Pere Ubu,
Nik Kershaw,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Lungfish,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Zero Boys,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Bobby Byrd,
David McCallum,
Donny Hathaway,
Joey Negro,
Scion,
Matthew Halsall,
Neu!,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Aswad,
Erasure,
China Crisis,
B.T. Express,
Lou Reed,
The Count Five,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
AZ,
Motorama,
The Slackers,
Susan Cadogan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ultra Naté,
Sparks,
Althea and Donna,
Radio Birdman,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Moody Blues,
In Retrospect,
The Angels of Light,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Patti Smith,
Bill Wells,
Soul II Soul,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.