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 Botswana and from Mexico City.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Camberwell Now to the funk 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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All Major Organ And The Adding Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Altered Images,
Swell Maps,
DNA,
Zapp,
The Smiths,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Fall,
B.T. Express,
Sonny Sharrock,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Litter,
Scott Walker,
Rod Modell,
Jerry's Kids,
Ronan,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Harry Pussy,
The Toasters,
Arthur Verocai,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Pagans,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
the Germs,
Eli Mardock,
The Leaves,
Skriet,
Althea and Donna,
Q65,
Big Daddy Kane,
Carl Craig,
Funky Four + One,
Nick Fraelich,
Mission of Burma,
Shuggie Otis,
In Retrospect,
Television,
The Mummies,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
X-101,
Masters at Work,
The Grass Roots,
Reuben Wilson,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Grey Daturas,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Dorothy Ashby,
Amon Düül II,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Cameo,
LL Cool J,
The Happenings,
Royal Trux,
Fela Kuti,
the Association,
Index,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Yusef Lateef,
L. Decosne,
Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Youth Brigade.
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.