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 Brunei and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 sitar 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 Wings to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Terry Callier. All the underground hits.
All Mr. Review tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Art Ensemble Of Chicago 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
X-102,
Grey Daturas,
Fatback Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Godley & Creme,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Tubeway Army,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Gladiators,
R.M.O.,
China Crisis,
Lou Christie,
H. Thieme,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Marmalade,
Lalo Schifrin,
Crash Course in Science,
The Seeds,
Jeff Lynne,
Rufus Thomas,
Sex Pistols,
Bill Near,
Alice Coltrane,
Sugar Minott,
Alphaville,
Quadrant,
Peter and Kerry,
Rotary Connection,
Roy Ayers,
Yazoo,
Archie Shepp,
Bush Tetras,
Freddie Wadling,
Matthew Bourne,
The Toasters,
The Music Machine,
Mr. Review,
Grauzone,
The Fugs,
The Leaves,
Eden Ahbez,
Cluster,
David McCallum,
Soulsonic Force,
The Slackers,
Motorama,
The Searchers,
Banda Bassotti,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rapeman,
Circle Jerks,
Robert Hood,
Sixth Finger,
Bluetip,
The Electric Prunes,
Joyce Sims,
MDC,
The United States of America,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Niagra,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.