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 Seychelles and from Bremen.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Negative Approach to the electroclash 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 Popol Vuh. All the underground hits.
All B.T. Express tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Connie Case 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nils Olav record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
Robert Wyatt,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Birthday Party,
Terry Callier,
The Techniques,
Jeff Mills,
Nirvana,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Monochrome Set,
Blake Baxter,
Rosa Yemen,
Hoover,
Radiohead,
Lee Hazlewood,
Alison Limerick,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Erykah Badu,
Marmalade,
Scrapy,
Lyres,
Cecil Taylor,
Alton Ellis,
The Moody Blues,
Trumans Water,
Thee Headcoats,
JFA,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Suicide,
Silicon Teens,
The Fugs,
Bad Manners,
La Düsseldorf,
The Cure,
Babytalk,
Loose Ends,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Gories,
10cc,
Joyce Sims,
Nico,
Ralphi Rosario,
Marshall Jefferson,
Derrick May,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Roxette,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Bill Near,
the Human League,
Unwound,
Quadrant,
The New Christs,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The J.B.'s,
UT,
Laurel Aitken,
Sonny Sharrock,
Fluxion,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Harpers Bizarre,
Desert Stars,
Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans, Subhumans.
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.