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 Malaysia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 China Crisis to the grime 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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Trumans Water record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharoah Sanders,
Swell Maps,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Amon Düül,
The Dead C,
Excepter,
Patti Smith,
Buzzcocks,
Sixth Finger,
Brick,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Toasters,
Sugar Minott,
The Standells,
The Evens,
Nico,
Pere Ubu,
Scrapy,
Delon & Dalcan,
Hasil Adkins,
Chris Corsano,
Accadde A,
Flipper,
T.S.O.L.,
Whodini,
Traffic Nightmare,
Johnny Clarke,
Subhumans,
K-Klass,
Shuggie Otis,
Newcleus,
Lyres,
Althea and Donna,
Quando Quango,
The Cramps,
Max Romeo,
John Cale,
Radio Birdman,
Joyce Sims,
Rhythm & Sound,
Alison Limerick,
Sun City Girls,
Youth Brigade,
a-ha,
Girls At Our Best!,
Reuben Wilson,
Marc Almond,
Rosa Yemen,
Bill Wells,
John Holt,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Five Americans,
B.T. Express,
The Doobie Brothers,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Modern Lovers,
Basic Channel,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Scion,
Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters.
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.