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 Luxembourg and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the electroclash 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 Cal Tjader. All the underground hits.
All Bronski Beat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gap Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nik Kershaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Hardrive,
Eurythmics,
Lebanon Hanover,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Animal Collective,
Wally Richardson,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Television,
The Five Americans,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Warren Ellis,
Albert Ayler,
Marmalade,
Fear,
Barry Ungar,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Nick Fraelich,
Sonny Sharrock,
Faraquet,
Bronski Beat,
Althea and Donna,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Con Funk Shun,
Donny Hathaway,
The Leaves,
Black Flag,
In Retrospect,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Popol Vuh,
The Litter,
The Last Poets,
This Heat,
Pierre Henry,
Jacques Brel,
Dawn Penn,
The Motions,
Maleditus Sound,
Liliput,
Cheater Slicks,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Vainqueur,
Echospace,
Eric Copeland,
The Dirtbombs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Faust,
Amazonics,
The Pretty Things,
Tommy Roe,
China Crisis,
Juan Atkins,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Slick Rick,
Cymande,
Jandek,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
8 Eyed Spy,
Carl Craig,
Khruangbin,
Lindisfarne,
David Axelrod,
Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water, Trumans Water.
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.