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 Oman and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 clarinet 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 Oppenheimer Analysis to the dance 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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eli Mardock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
LL Cool J,
Scott Walker,
H. Thieme,
Matthew Bourne,
Lou Reed,
New York Dolls,
the Normal,
Reuben Wilson,
Aloha Tigers,
Cal Tjader,
Brand Nubian,
Mr. Review,
Oblivians,
Frankie Knuckles,
David Bowie,
Jacques Brel,
Ice-T,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Quantec,
the Bar-Kays,
U.S. Maple,
Black Flag,
Hoover,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Harpers Bizarre,
The Stooges,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Hashim,
Matthew Halsall,
Kaleidoscope,
Bobby Sherman,
Fear,
Lungfish,
Lalann,
Slick Rick,
Todd Terry,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Nas,
Gang Green,
Aswad,
Arthur Verocai,
Mo-Dettes,
The Gun Club,
Sun City Girls,
Sandy B,
Unwound,
In Retrospect,
The Pop Group,
K-Klass,
Public Enemy,
Inner City,
The Mojo Men,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Goldenarms,
Nils Olav,
Black Bananas,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Country Teasers,
Colin Newman,
Zapp,
Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose, Fifty Foot Hose.
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.