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 Honduras and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 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 John Coltrane to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Cabaret Voltaire. All the underground hits.
All The Detroit Cobras tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roy Ayers 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mojo Men 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?
Joyce Sims,
The Birthday Party,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Dead C,
Average White Band,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Television Personalities,
Sparks,
Blake Baxter,
Dark Day,
Piero Umiliani,
Ludus,
the Soft Cell,
Aural Exciters,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Aaron Thompson,
Davy DMX,
Adolescents,
Clear Light,
Subhumans,
cv313,
Porter Ricks,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Bobby Sherman,
Roxy Music,
UT,
Fela Kuti,
Magazine,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Crispy Ambulance,
Animal Collective,
Chrome,
Throbbing Gristle,
Electric Prunes,
Amon Düül II,
Archie Shepp,
Lee Hazlewood,
Morten Harket,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mo-Dettes,
Ronnie Foster,
In Retrospect,
The Happenings,
The Names,
Newcleus,
Thompson Twins,
La Düsseldorf,
Barry Ungar,
The Shadows of Knight,
Donny Hathaway,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Roy Ayers,
Cecil Taylor,
Spandau Ballet,
Alton Ellis,
Bobbi Humphrey,
R.M.O.,
Khruangbin,
Idris Muhammad,
Arcadia,
Erykah Badu,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.