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 South Sudan and from Spokane.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk to the rock 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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All The Saints tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tubeway Army record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Panda Bear record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
Gang Starr,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kerri Chandler,
Nation of Ulysses,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Kaleidoscope,
Yusef Lateef,
John Lydon,
Jawbox,
Man Parrish,
Sonny Sharrock,
Circle Jerks,
Scientists,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Loose Ends,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Babytalk,
Beasts of Bourbon,
In Retrospect,
Cybotron,
Byron Stingily,
Saccharine Trust,
Barclay James Harvest,
R.M.O.,
Peter & Gordon,
Y Pants,
The Zeros,
The Vogues,
The Star Department,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grauzone,
Echospace,
Soul II Soul,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Mars,
The J.B.'s,
The Fuzztones,
Radio Birdman,
Iggy Pop,
Stiv Bators,
Amon Düül II,
Hashim,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Eve St. Jones,
Wolf Eyes,
Rosa Yemen,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Albert Ayler,
Underground Resistance,
the Soft Cell,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Golliwogs,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Evens,
Sonic Youth,
Shuggie Otis,
Eric Dolphy,
Moebius,
Public Image Ltd.,
Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling, Freddie Wadling.
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.