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 Qatar and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mexico City.
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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 LL Cool J to the crunk 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 The Gun Club. All the underground hits.
All 8 Eyed Spy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
the Fania All-Stars,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Derrick May,
Todd Terry,
Groovy Waters,
The Monochrome Set,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Gichy Dan,
June Days,
Darondo,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Vogues,
Nirvana,
The Misunderstood,
10cc,
Aural Exciters,
Country Teasers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Erykah Badu,
Symarip,
UT,
Black Sheep,
Echospace,
The Real Kids,
Crooked Eye,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Marvin Gaye,
Rosa Yemen,
Funky Four + One,
The Velvet Underground,
the Sonics,
Pantytec,
Tom Boy,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Warsaw,
Technova,
Adolescents,
B.T. Express,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Saints,
The Monks,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
David Axelrod,
Mad Mike,
Mission of Burma,
Avey Tare,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Gap Band,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Stooges,
Thee Headcoats,
Ronan,
The Techniques,
Albert Ayler,
Ultra Naté,
The Evens,
The Slackers,
Don Cherry,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.