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 Lesotho and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Bremen.
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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
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 Accadde A to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Brick. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Terry 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe 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,
the Sonics,
Susan Cadogan,
The Knickerbockers,
Henry Cow,
Masters at Work,
Michelle Simonal,
The Human League,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Arthur Verocai,
The Litter,
The Selecter,
DNA,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bronski Beat,
Bootsy Collins,
Donny Hathaway,
The Neon Judgement,
Sister Nancy,
Pantytec,
Laurel Aitken,
A Flock of Seagulls,
the Soft Cell,
Wally Richardson,
Popol Vuh,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Marine Girls,
Tom Boy,
Moby Grape,
Black Flag,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Aural Exciters,
Excepter,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Matthew Halsall,
Sandy B,
a-ha,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Techniques,
Jeff Mills,
Chrome,
Derrick May,
The Golliwogs,
Cecil Taylor,
La Düsseldorf,
Severed Heads,
Little Man,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Unrelated Segments,
Yusef Lateef,
Crime,
Aaron Thompson,
Icehouse,
Circle Jerks,
Cameo,
The Smoke,
The Fuzztones,
Althea and Donna,
David Axelrod,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.