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 New Zealand and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Bremen.
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 arpeggiator 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 Dorothy Ashby to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Peter and Kerry. All the underground hits.
All Basic Channel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerrie Biddell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a JFA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Hashim,
The Selecter,
Cluster,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Scion,
Peter and Kerry,
The Dead C,
Soul II Soul,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Gap Band,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Electric Prunes,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Can,
The Cramps,
ABBA,
Lou Reed,
Khruangbin,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Animal Collective,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Tremeloes,
Qualms,
Faraquet,
New Order,
Chris Corsano,
Wally Richardson,
a-ha,
Joyce Sims,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ice-T,
Angry Samoans,
Matthew Bourne,
Flash Fearless,
Japan,
Pussy Galore,
Banda Bassotti,
The Fortunes,
Minutemen,
Public Image Ltd.,
Nils Olav,
Fugazi,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Harmonia,
Liliput,
Ten City,
The Blackbyrds,
Masters at Work,
Bob Dylan,
Marmalade,
MDC,
Eric B and Rakim,
Jandek,
Iggy Pop,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.