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 Marshall Islands and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Paris.
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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the 808 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 The Pretty Things to the rap 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 Loose Ends. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Q and Not U record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Moby Grape,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Mantronix,
Gil Scott Heron,
Donald Byrd,
Kurtis Blow,
Maleditus Sound,
The Durutti Column,
Dark Day,
The Happenings,
The Fall,
Deadbeat,
Sight & Sound,
Rekid,
Sonic Youth,
Brand Nubian,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Evens,
Crime,
Steve Hackett,
Thee Headcoats,
Ronnie Foster,
Mission of Burma,
Henry Cow,
Don Cherry,
Joy Division,
Hardrive,
Skarface,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ken Boothe,
the Slits,
David Axelrod,
Swell Maps,
Dorothy Ashby,
Toni Rubio,
Cameo,
Wasted Youth,
Wolf Eyes,
Lakeside,
Jandek,
One Last Wish,
Sarah Menescal,
Minny Pops,
Arthur Verocai,
Section 25,
Ludus,
Yellowson,
Visage,
Laurel Aitken,
Gang of Four,
The Dave Clark Five,
Whodini,
CMW,
Jeff Lynne,
Zapp,
June Days,
Country Teasers,
Angry Samoans,
The Residents,
Inner City,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Second Layer,
Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants, Y Pants.
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.