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 Barbados and from Tokyo.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Michael McDonald 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Nik Kershaw. All the underground hits.
All The Searchers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every MC5 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Red Krayola,
Delon & Dalcan,
Khruangbin,
Bob Dylan,
Television,
Second Layer,
Eddi Front,
T.S.O.L.,
Jeff Lynne,
Lyres,
Rapeman,
ABBA,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
James White and The Blacks,
The Skatalites,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Vogues,
Excepter,
EPMD,
Shoche,
Marvin Gaye,
Depeche Mode,
Judy Mowatt,
Rosa Yemen,
Neu!,
Cameo,
Donald Byrd,
The Standells,
Charles Mingus,
B.T. Express,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Detroit Cobras,
Half Japanese,
The Gap Band,
Jerry's Kids,
Black Pus,
The American Breed,
Eli Mardock,
H. Thieme,
Terrestrial Tones,
Grey Daturas,
Colin Newman,
The Young Rascals,
The Velvet Underground,
Matthew Bourne,
the Swans,
The Count Five,
Saccharine Trust,
Trumans Water,
Nation of Ulysses,
Scan 7,
The Flesh Eaters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Con Funk Shun,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Grass Roots,
Rakim,
10cc,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.