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 Laos and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Donald Fagen 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 Jawbox to the rap 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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All The Evens 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 disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Con Funk Shun record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
Young Marble Giants,
Bronski Beat,
Brothers Johnson,
Gong,
The Slits,
Scientists,
Nation of Ulysses,
Charles Mingus,
Masters at Work,
Popol Vuh,
The Modern Lovers,
Pharoah Sanders,
Arab on Radar,
Wally Richardson,
China Crisis,
Rotary Connection,
T. Rex,
Hot Snakes,
Kayak,
Spoonie Gee,
Stiv Bators,
Barry Ungar,
Flash Fearless,
Accadde A,
Cameo,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Skriet,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Althea and Donna,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Television,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Avey Tare,
Wire,
New Order,
Hasil Adkins,
The Birthday Party,
Joy Division,
The Fortunes,
Smog,
Eurythmics,
The Walker Brothers,
Amon Düül,
Robert Hood,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Pretty Things,
Tommy Roe,
Zero Boys,
Theoretical Girls,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Thompson Twins,
K-Klass,
The Gladiators,
The Beau Brummels,
The Dave Clark Five,
Ituana,
Moss Icon,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lou Reed,
Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young.
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.