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 Haiti and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Essential Logic to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Quadrant. All the underground hits.
All Minnie Riperton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Siglo XX,
Los Fastidios,
Rhythm & Sound,
Bad Manners,
Royal Trux,
In Retrospect,
Zapp,
Hashim,
a-ha,
The Five Americans,
Lungfish,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bill Near,
Cybotron,
Excepter,
This Heat,
Slave,
the Slits,
Sam Rivers,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Warren Ellis,
cv313,
Stetsasonic,
Rapeman,
Sällskapet,
Absolute Body Control,
Minor Threat,
Henry Cow,
June Days,
Arab on Radar,
Joy Division,
Black Flag,
Trumans Water,
the Germs,
The Mojo Men,
Godley & Creme,
Dawn Penn,
Gong,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Fall,
Underground Resistance,
Flipper,
Television Personalities,
Pulsallama,
Jerry's Kids,
Jacob Miller,
Technova,
Avey Tare,
Simply Red,
Suicide,
Panda Bear,
Barclay James Harvest,
Echospace,
The Cure,
Andrew Hill,
Dave Gahan,
Monolake,
Grandmaster Flash,
Al Stewart,
New Order,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.