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 Egypt and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Lou Reed 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Henry Cow. All the underground hits.
All Piero Umiliani tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lebanon Hanover record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Quando Quango,
Jeru the Damaja,
Girls At Our Best!,
Simply Red,
Nick Fraelich,
Flash Fearless,
Radio Birdman,
The Count Five,
The Cowsills,
The Barracudas,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ossler,
The Smoke,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lou Reed,
Dark Day,
The Trojans,
The Doobie Brothers,
John Foxx,
Thee Headcoats,
The Shadows of Knight,
Peter and Kerry,
Quadrant,
Unwound,
Gabor Szabo,
Rotary Connection,
The Litter,
the Slits,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Hoover,
Lyres,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Rod Modell,
Moebius,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Guru Guru,
Pere Ubu,
The Human League,
Shuggie Otis,
Joe Smooth,
Joey Negro,
Sun City Girls,
Magazine,
the Association,
Pharoah Sanders,
Public Image Ltd.,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Franke,
Erykah Badu,
Aswad,
the Sonics,
Banda Bassotti,
Gong,
Hardrive,
The Zeros,
Marvin Gaye,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.