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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Kurtis Blow to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aswad 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 synthesizer and an arpeggiator 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 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Saints,
Whodini,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Traffic Nightmare,
cv313,
Subhumans,
Mad Mike,
the Sonics,
Alice Coltrane,
Juan Atkins,
The Dave Clark Five,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Dead C,
The American Breed,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Smoke,
Masters at Work,
Pantytec,
The Offenders,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Gladiators,
In Retrospect,
Motorama,
Ten City,
Colin Newman,
Charles Mingus,
Loose Ends,
Suburban Knight,
The Electric Prunes,
Sunsets and Hearts,
JFA,
Minor Threat,
Big Daddy Kane,
Sun City Girls,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
ABC,
The Fire Engines,
Roger Hodgson,
China Crisis,
Glambeats Corp.,
Patti Smith,
Eyeless In Gaza,
the Bar-Kays,
Leonard Cohen,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Wire,
Joey Negro,
Eden Ahbez,
Fear,
Ronnie Foster,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pierre Henry,
The Remains,
Rosa Yemen,
OOIOO,
La Düsseldorf,
The Vogues,
MDC,
the Germs,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.