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 Senegal and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Can 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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Sex Pistols,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Massinfluence,
Rufus Thomas,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Reuben Wilson,
Charles Mingus,
Donny Hathaway,
Stetsasonic,
Hasil Adkins,
Davy DMX,
In Retrospect,
Ultimate Spinach,
Marc Almond,
ABC,
Deepchord,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Talk Talk,
Spoonie Gee,
Joey Negro,
Erasure,
Scientists,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ituana,
Pharoah Sanders,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Sonics,
Sparks,
Eric B and Rakim,
Excepter,
Procol Harum,
Bang On A Can,
Schoolly D,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Grey Daturas,
Skriet,
The Associates,
The Names,
The Neon Judgement,
Magazine,
Ornette Coleman,
Thompson Twins,
David Axelrod,
Yaz,
Jawbox,
Tubeway Army,
Scrapy,
Cybotron,
David McCallum,
Buzzcocks,
Jacob Miller,
Morten Harket,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Derrick Morgan,
Sight & Sound,
Donald Byrd,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Malaria!,
Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio.
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.