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 Colombia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
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 Shuggie Otis to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Basic Channel. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Banda Bassotti 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
the Germs,
Quando Quango,
Connie Case,
Y Pants,
Jerry's Kids,
Josef K,
Heaven 17,
Wire,
Oneida,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Roxette,
Main Source,
R.M.O.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Buzzcocks,
The Slackers,
Fat Boys,
John Cale,
Bill Near,
Kerrie Biddell,
Newcleus,
Rufus Thomas,
David McCallum,
Hot Snakes,
Sexual Harrassment,
Monolake,
U.S. Maple,
Technova,
The Grass Roots,
Scrapy,
The Count Five,
the Swans,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Joyce Sims,
Glenn Branca,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Smog,
Soft Cell,
Sound Behaviour,
Tommy Roe,
Donny Hathaway,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Public Enemy,
World's Most,
Suicide,
D'Angelo,
Echospace,
The J.B.'s,
Anakelly,
Circle Jerks,
The Flesh Eaters,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Ultra Naté,
Oblivians,
The Divine Comedy,
Pantaleimon,
Make Up,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.