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 Cyprus 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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1973 at the first Television 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 Pharoah Sanders to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Sight & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mighty Diamonds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 theremin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Visage,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Dorothy Ashby,
Interpol,
Maleditus Sound,
Mission of Burma,
Lou Christie,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
In Retrospect,
Guru Guru,
China Crisis,
Tropical Tobacco,
Soft Machine,
Ludus,
the Bar-Kays,
Public Enemy,
Rosa Yemen,
Hasil Adkins,
Bobby Byrd,
Das Ding,
Susan Cadogan,
Bad Manners,
Skaos,
The Skatalites,
Echospace,
Amazonics,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Rod Modell,
Stiv Bators,
Saccharine Trust,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Doors,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Motions,
Rotary Connection,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Scan 7,
New Order,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Pere Ubu,
The Raincoats,
E-Dancer,
Minnie Riperton,
Lindisfarne,
June of 44,
Wolf Eyes,
Loose Ends,
Donald Byrd,
Lucky Dragons,
Boogie Down Productions,
Tears for Fears,
the Sonics,
Mr. Review,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Seeds,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Mummies,
The Golliwogs,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.