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 Fiji and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
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 Marmalade to the grime 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 Eyeless In Gaza. All the underground hits.
All the Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funkadelic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar 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 Offenders,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Alice Coltrane,
the Sonics,
the Normal,
Lalann,
Terry Callier,
Agent Orange,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Durutti Column,
The Stooges,
the Germs,
Yazoo,
Accadde A,
Wally Richardson,
Mo-Dettes,
Radio Birdman,
Barry Ungar,
Jandek,
The Litter,
Dennis Brown,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Doors,
Nik Kershaw,
Bill Wells,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bush Tetras,
The Residents,
Flamin' Groovies,
Echospace,
Heaven 17,
Arab on Radar,
Joy Division,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Maleditus Sound,
Chris Corsano,
Index,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sandy B,
Crispian St. Peters,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Raincoats,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Amon Düül II,
Al Stewart,
The Slackers,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Supertramp,
Leonard Cohen,
X-Ray Spex,
Wire,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Thee Headcoats,
Ohio Players,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Detroit Cobras,
Theoretical Girls,
Kenny Larkin,
Crooked Eye,
The Standells, The Standells, The Standells, The Standells.
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.