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 Paris.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 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 L. Decosne to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Marmalade. All the underground hits.
All Darondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Moby Grape record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Swans,
Josef K,
The Stooges,
Simply Red,
The Standells,
Man Parrish,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Evens,
Fatback Band,
Dawn Penn,
The Real Kids,
Tim Buckley,
Youth Brigade,
Letta Mbulu,
Gichy Dan,
Camouflage,
Michelle Simonal,
Clear Light,
Young Marble Giants,
MC5,
Echospace,
Goldenarms,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Leonard Cohen,
Cymande,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Chris & Cosey,
Traffic Nightmare,
the Bar-Kays,
Black Bananas,
Liliput,
The Index,
Scratch Acid,
Bobby Womack,
Pussy Galore,
KRS-One,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Selecter,
Derrick Morgan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Au Pairs,
Little Man,
Electric Prunes,
The Pretty Things,
Roger Hodgson,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Brothers Johnson,
Kurtis Blow,
Idris Muhammad,
Soft Machine,
Quadrant,
Inner City,
Joe Smooth,
Scan 7,
Ultravox,
Juan Atkins,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sister Nancy,
Kerri Chandler,
Amon Düül,
R.M.O.,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Andrew Hill,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.