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 Eritrea and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Happenings to the jazz 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 Quadrant. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül II tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thompson Twins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Animal Collective record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Barry Ungar,
Ice-T,
The Sound,
Albert Ayler,
Average White Band,
Mr. Review,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Soft Machine,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Brand Nubian,
Gang Starr,
The Fire Engines,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jerry's Kids,
Josef K,
U.S. Maple,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Toasters,
Zapp,
Suicide,
Chrome,
Wire,
The Seeds,
Rotary Connection,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Deakin,
Archie Shepp,
Bronski Beat,
Main Source,
Stetsasonic,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ornette Coleman,
Lower 48,
Reuben Wilson,
Supertramp,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mark Hollis,
Kool Moe Dee,
New York Dolls,
Blake Baxter,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Monks,
Das Ding,
The Wake,
Frankie Knuckles,
Stiv Bators,
Sound Behaviour,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Altered Images,
John Holt,
The Smiths,
The Star Department,
Y Pants,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.