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 Sri Lanka and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 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 the Human League to the grunge 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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All Lou Christie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Durutti Column 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharoah Sanders,
Oblivians,
Prince Buster,
Skaos,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Drexciya,
the Sonics,
Simply Red,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Slits,
The Gun Club,
New York Dolls,
Hoover,
10cc,
Junior Murvin,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Selecter,
JFA,
Livin' Joy,
The Durutti Column,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Second Layer,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Wire,
Roy Ayers,
The J.B.'s,
Donny Hathaway,
Rosa Yemen,
Morten Harket,
Spoonie Gee,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Zero Boys,
Siglo XX,
Little Man,
Severed Heads,
Man Parrish,
Sun Ra,
the Soft Cell,
Parry Music,
Scion,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
June Days,
Scan 7,
Crime,
Lindisfarne,
Scott Walker,
H. Thieme,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Alarm Clocks,
Japan,
Jacques Brel,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Erykah Badu,
The Modern Lovers,
Boz Scaggs,
The American Breed,
World's Most,
Moby Grape,
OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO.
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.