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 Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Blancmange to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Half Japanese record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mighty Diamonds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
John Cale,
Essential Logic,
Lightning Bolt,
Au Pairs,
Idris Muhammad,
R.M.O.,
The Walker Brothers,
Fatback Band,
Sight & Sound,
Echospace,
Ossler,
Glenn Branca,
The J.B.'s,
Mad Mike,
Eddi Front,
Isaac Hayes,
The Names,
Q65,
Jerry's Kids,
Donald Byrd,
Kayak,
D'Angelo,
Drive Like Jehu,
Fear,
Average White Band,
Derrick May,
Guru Guru,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Cymande,
Slave,
Banda Bassotti,
Prince Buster,
Dead Boys,
Easy Going,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Velvet Underground,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
China Crisis,
Andrew Hill,
New Age Steppers,
Organ,
The Selecter,
Amon Düül II,
Barclay James Harvest,
Sam Rivers,
The Leaves,
Crash Course in Science,
X-101,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Little Man,
Harmonia,
Television Personalities,
Japan,
The Star Department,
The Smiths,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
U.S. Maple,
Fad Gadget,
Minnie Riperton,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.