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 Honduras and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 clarinet 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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All June Days tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every B.T. Express record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy's Rubber Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Womack,
Negative Approach,
Nico,
The Evens,
Sight & Sound,
Soft Cell,
Faraquet,
Dawn Penn,
Todd Terry,
The Gap Band,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Wings,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ornette Coleman,
EPMD,
The Smoke,
Eve St. Jones,
Black Bananas,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Electric Prunes,
The Busters,
Tears for Fears,
New York Dolls,
Reuben Wilson,
Stereo Dub,
Fear,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Khruangbin,
Pierre Henry,
Suicide,
Liliput,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mary Jane Girls,
Qualms,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Crash Course in Science,
The Techniques,
Massinfluence,
Robert Wyatt,
The Beau Brummels,
Piero Umiliani,
Sister Nancy,
Blake Baxter,
Grey Daturas,
Gang Starr,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Depeche Mode,
Mo-Dettes,
Masters at Work,
Kas Product,
Stetsasonic,
Byron Stingily,
The Music Machine,
Maurizio,
Unwound,
Public Enemy,
Zero Boys,
Skriet,
Wally Richardson,
Jeff Lynne,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.