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 Czech Republic and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar 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 Donald Byrd to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Arthur Verocai. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moebius 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gregory Isaacs,
Young Marble Giants,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Visage,
Half Japanese,
The Grass Roots,
X-102,
Supertramp,
The Red Krayola,
The Fortunes,
Vladislav Delay,
Little Man,
Reagan Youth,
cv313,
Metal Thangz,
Yellowson,
MDC,
Severed Heads,
F. McDonald,
Soft Machine,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Selecter,
Fear,
Los Fastidios,
The Monochrome Set,
Ten City,
Howard Jones,
Black Flag,
Maurizio,
One Last Wish,
Idris Muhammad,
Deakin,
The Fuzztones,
Wasted Youth,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Slits,
Erykah Badu,
Minor Threat,
Tomorrow,
Derrick Morgan,
Pylon,
Von Mondo,
Fela Kuti,
Rites of Spring,
Lindisfarne,
Funky Four + One,
Sonic Youth,
Eric Dolphy,
Blake Baxter,
The Saints,
Gang Green,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Spandau Ballet,
Urselle,
the Fania All-Stars,
PIL,
Bad Manners,
Joyce Sims,
X-Ray Spex,
Newcleus,
the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell, the Soft Cell.
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.