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 Montenegro and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 oboe 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 Terry Callier to the punk 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 Major Organ And The Adding Machine. All the underground hits.
All The Beau Brummels tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
T. Rex,
OOIOO,
Archie Shepp,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Swans,
Symarip,
Country Teasers,
Iggy Pop,
The Misunderstood,
Rites of Spring,
Peter and Kerry,
La Düsseldorf,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Fugs,
Eric Dolphy,
Make Up,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Yaz,
Barbara Tucker,
Dead Boys,
Ponytail,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Normal,
Technova,
K-Klass,
Cal Tjader,
Albert Ayler,
Q65,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Icehouse,
Bronski Beat,
Ultravox,
The United States of America,
Barclay James Harvest,
JFA,
Fat Boys,
ABC,
Guru Guru,
Joy Division,
Thompson Twins,
Sonic Youth,
The Real Kids,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Rapeman,
Peter & Gordon,
Section 25,
Nirvana,
Bad Manners,
Black Sheep,
Television,
Kool Moe Dee,
Essential Logic,
CMW,
In Retrospect,
Joey Negro,
Slave,
Stereo Dub,
Animal Collective,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Slits,
Los Fastidios,
Y Pants,
Spoonie Gee,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.