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 Zimbabwe and from Manchester.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Beijing.
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 mellotron 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 Gong to the punk 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 The American Breed. All the underground hits.
All The Residents tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kenny Larkin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pet Shop Boys,
Laurel Aitken,
Sly & The Family Stone,
B.T. Express,
Jeff Lynne,
Eden Ahbez,
Kevin Saunderson,
Drexciya,
Davy DMX,
Theoretical Girls,
Deadbeat,
Hashim,
Skriet,
Connie Case,
Fad Gadget,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Red Krayola,
Von Mondo,
The Busters,
Spoonie Gee,
Magazine,
Skarface,
10cc,
H. Thieme,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Happenings,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Sight & Sound,
Sällskapet,
Junior Murvin,
Bauhaus,
Donny Hathaway,
Bang On A Can,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Soft Cell,
Ice-T,
Nirvana,
Depeche Mode,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Associates,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Kurtis Blow,
Suicide,
John Foxx,
Interpol,
Traffic Nightmare,
X-102,
ABC,
Little Man,
Soft Machine,
Todd Rundgren,
Pere Ubu,
Fatback Band,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Vogues,
Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson.
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.