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 Belarus and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Techniques to the dance 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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Angels of Light 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kenny Larkin record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Pylon,
Grandmaster Flash,
Wasted Youth,
In Retrospect,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Derrick Morgan,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Average White Band,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Albert Ayler,
Monks,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Sound,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
the Swans,
The Monks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Cal Tjader,
Fela Kuti,
Anthony Braxton,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Lee Hazlewood,
Royal Trux,
The Shadows of Knight,
T. Rex,
Joensuu 1685,
Soul II Soul,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Mantronix,
Visage,
Tres Demented,
Idris Muhammad,
Hot Snakes,
Harmonia,
Boz Scaggs,
John Holt,
Hoover,
Ultravox,
Panda Bear,
The Star Department,
Spoonie Gee,
Quadrant,
Toni Rubio,
Juan Atkins,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Rites of Spring,
Bob Dylan,
The Techniques,
Nirvana,
Eve St. Jones,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Accadde A,
The Count Five,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Beau Brummels,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sound Behaviour,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Neon Judgement,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.