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 Qatar and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 oboe 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 Fluxion to the grime 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 Hot Snakes. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ohio Players 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a La Düsseldorf record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-101,
Minor Threat,
The Skatalites,
Girls At Our Best!,
Fluxion,
Quando Quango,
Cymande,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Groovy Waters,
CMW,
KRS-One,
Fugazi,
Lou Reed,
Supertramp,
The Monks,
Infiniti,
Neil Young,
Eddi Front,
Cheater Slicks,
Motorama,
Faraquet,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Andrew Hill,
Grauzone,
Main Source,
Bad Manners,
Talk Talk,
Echospace,
Malaria!,
Brothers Johnson,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sight & Sound,
Gang of Four,
Gang Gang Dance,
This Heat,
Reagan Youth,
The Count Five,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sam Rivers,
The Offenders,
The Five Americans,
Marine Girls,
JFA,
Tomorrow,
Niagra,
the Fania All-Stars,
Maurizio,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bootsy Collins,
Wasted Youth,
The Move,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Essential Logic,
Godley & Creme,
Robert Görl,
The Gladiators,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Angels of Light,
Peter and Kerry,
Albert Ayler,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.