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 Tuvalu and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 harpsichord 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 Soul Sonic Force to the funk 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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All Louis and Bebe Barron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
Big Daddy Kane,
John Lydon,
Minny Pops,
Television,
Mars,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Beau Brummels,
Pantytec,
The Vogues,
In Retrospect,
Massinfluence,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Trojans,
Infiniti,
Barry Ungar,
Little Man,
Rotary Connection,
Black Moon,
The Velvet Underground,
Royal Trux,
The Modern Lovers,
Sparks,
Soft Machine,
Bootsy Collins,
Eric Copeland,
Minor Threat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Swell Maps,
Shoche,
The Monochrome Set,
Monolake,
Franke,
Fela Kuti,
Cecil Taylor,
Unrelated Segments,
Man Parrish,
The Techniques,
Arab on Radar,
Reuben Wilson,
Cluster,
Whodini,
Saccharine Trust,
the Germs,
Don Cherry,
Johnny Clarke,
Lalann,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Amazonics,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Kinks,
World's Most,
Marcia Griffiths,
Das Ding,
Quando Quango,
Thee Headcoats,
The Evens,
The Red Krayola,
Magazine, Magazine, Magazine, Magazine.
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.