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 Poland and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Sao Paulo.
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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sonics to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Darondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Archie Shepp record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Germs,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Blossom Toes,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Slackers,
Subhumans,
Prince Buster,
John Foxx,
Au Pairs,
Mandrill,
The Pretty Things,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Pop Group,
Nick Fraelich,
Al Stewart,
Vainqueur,
Pantytec,
Colin Newman,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Cybotron,
New Order,
The Sound,
The Move,
Ossler,
Jandek,
Negative Approach,
Barclay James Harvest,
Japan,
Mars,
Lower 48,
The Martian,
Graham Central Station,
Jacob Miller,
A Certain Ratio,
Jacques Brel,
The Misunderstood,
Tommy Roe,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Liliput,
The Birthday Party,
Easy Going,
Swans,
Pole,
Frankie Knuckles,
Piero Umiliani,
Pierre Henry,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Michelle Simonal,
the Fania All-Stars,
Mad Mike,
PIL,
R.M.O.,
The Human League,
Bootsy Collins,
Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover, Lebanon Hanover.
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.