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 Ivory Coast and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 London and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Schoolly D to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All Los Fastidios tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ralphi Rosario record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Adolescents,
Charles Mingus,
Y Pants,
Mission of Burma,
Robert Wyatt,
D'Angelo,
The Mojo Men,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bizarre Inc.,
Malaria!,
The Gun Club,
Metal Thangz,
Bad Manners,
PIL,
Fugazi,
Man Eating Sloth,
Don Cherry,
The Seeds,
Dawn Penn,
EPMD,
Erasure,
The Durutti Column,
Faraquet,
The Litter,
10cc,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tears for Fears,
Dual Sessions,
Albert Ayler,
Infiniti,
Arcadia,
Royal Trux,
Curtis Mayfield,
Bill Near,
Oblivians,
B.T. Express,
Smog,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Country Teasers,
Judy Mowatt,
The Trojans,
Boz Scaggs,
Spoonie Gee,
Saccharine Trust,
Rekid,
Sparks,
The Gladiators,
Bronski Beat,
Gong,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Move,
Marvin Gaye,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
In Retrospect,
John Cale,
Swans,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Evens,
Eric Dolphy,
Ultravox,
Gang Starr,
Scion, Scion, Scion, Scion.
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.