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 Slovakia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Tom Verlaine 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 10cc to the electroclash 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 Fortunes. All the underground hits.
All Sound Behaviour tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donald Byrd 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Wells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joe Finger,
Sound Behaviour,
Bauhaus,
L. Decosne,
Outsiders,
Liliput,
Blake Baxter,
Mr. Review,
Pylon,
Peter and Kerry,
Fela Kuti,
Deepchord,
The Real Kids,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Section 25,
Arab on Radar,
Dual Sessions,
Rotary Connection,
Inner City,
Absolute Body Control,
Hoover,
Con Funk Shun,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Barracudas,
DNA,
Avey Tare,
KRS-One,
Kool Moe Dee,
Donny Hathaway,
Juan Atkins,
The Busters,
OOIOO,
The Count Five,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Dawn Penn,
Public Enemy,
Jeff Mills,
Bang On A Can,
Buzzcocks,
Michelle Simonal,
The Doors,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kenny Larkin,
The Move,
Electric Prunes,
Index,
A Certain Ratio,
David Bowie,
The Evens,
Scan 7,
Sparks,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
John Foxx,
Newcleus,
Flipper,
Rapeman,
The Pretty Things,
Aaron Thompson,
The Grass Roots,
The Vogues,
Cal Tjader,
Masters at Work,
Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum, Procol Harum.
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.