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 Antigua and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Lagos.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Divine Comedy to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Lou Reed & Metallica. All the underground hits.
All Eden Ahbez tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joe Finger record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Model 500,
The Happenings,
Jeff Mills,
Robert Wyatt,
The Techniques,
The Associates,
Susan Cadogan,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Dirtbombs,
Jacques Brel,
Pantaleimon,
Panda Bear,
Bobbi Humphrey,
the Sonics,
Eurythmics,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Slits,
Dual Sessions,
Fugazi,
Ultimate Spinach,
Mantronix,
Kayak,
Anthony Braxton,
Gastr Del Sol,
E-Dancer,
Camberwell Now,
Connie Case,
Bill Wells,
Make Up,
The Cure,
The Offenders,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Icehouse,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Fugs,
Junior Murvin,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Glenn Branca,
Mo-Dettes,
Sun City Girls,
KRS-One,
Schoolly D,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Main Source,
Vainqueur,
Q and Not U,
Electric Light Orchestra,
L. Decosne,
Lou Reed,
Lee Hazlewood,
Scott Walker,
Nik Kershaw,
Aural Exciters,
John Lydon,
Cybotron,
X-Ray Spex,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.