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 Thailand and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Jesus and Mary Chain to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Ash Ra Tempel. All the underground hits.
All LL Cool J tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reagan Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a It's A Beautiful Day record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Alton Ellis,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
MDC,
Sun City Girls,
Black Sheep,
Roy Ayers,
Sex Pistols,
Cluster,
Eden Ahbez,
Sexual Harrassment,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Robert Görl,
X-Ray Spex,
R.M.O.,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Erasure,
Eli Mardock,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Donny Hathaway,
OOIOO,
Blake Baxter,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Unrelated Segments,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bobby Byrd,
Faraquet,
Barrington Levy,
Piero Umiliani,
Bobby Sherman,
The Move,
Shoche,
Public Enemy,
Pierre Henry,
The Martian,
Funky Four + One,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Music Machine,
the Swans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Q65,
The Angels of Light,
kango's stein massive,
Country Teasers,
Hashim,
Kenny Larkin,
Dawn Penn,
The Birthday Party,
the Germs,
Eve St. Jones,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Offenders,
The Fugs,
Susan Cadogan,
Swans,
Warren Ellis,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.