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 Turkmenistan and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
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 Cluster to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Echospace. All the underground hits.
All Minny Pops tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Sonics 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Joe & The Fish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Graham Central Station,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Wake,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Durutti Column,
Cecil Taylor,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Aloha Tigers,
Yusef Lateef,
Peter & Gordon,
Vladislav Delay,
Au Pairs,
Erasure,
Isaac Hayes,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Fire Engines,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Remains,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Alphaville,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Model 500,
8 Eyed Spy,
Buzzcocks,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
June Days,
Youth Brigade,
The Dirtbombs,
Yazoo,
The New Christs,
Organ,
Gerry Rafferty,
Television Personalities,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Public Image Ltd.,
Scrapy,
Rekid,
The Martian,
Bobby Sherman,
Fela Kuti,
David Bowie,
The Litter,
The Slits,
the Sonics,
The Raincoats,
Oneida,
Cameo,
Swell Maps,
Fluxion,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Lower 48,
Mad Mike,
Section 25,
Subhumans,
The Mojo Men,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dark Day,
James White and The Blacks,
The Velvet Underground,
Gichy Dan,
Moss Icon,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.