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 Turkmenistan and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Essential Logic to the funk 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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Major Organ And The Adding Machine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Funky Four + One 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?
Sonny Sharrock,
The Remains,
H. Thieme,
Panda Bear,
Severed Heads,
Glambeats Corp.,
Royal Trux,
The Red Krayola,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Dual Sessions,
Tim Buckley,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Neon Judgement,
Shuggie Otis,
Icehouse,
Terry Callier,
La Düsseldorf,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
John Coltrane,
Derrick May,
Loose Ends,
Neil Young,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Man Eating Sloth,
This Heat,
Cybotron,
The Selecter,
The Fire Engines,
Zapp,
Aswad,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scott Walker,
The Happenings,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Rotary Connection,
Tres Demented,
Bill Wells,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Black Moon,
The Smiths,
Japan,
Black Bananas,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
T.S.O.L.,
Dawn Penn,
The Doors,
The Black Dice,
The Count Five,
The Vogues,
The Modern Lovers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
the Soft Cell,
Gong,
Grauzone,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Grey Daturas,
Gang of Four,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Minutemen,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Tropical Tobacco,
EPMD,
The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids, The Real Kids.
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.