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 Rwanda and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Archie Shepp to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Bootsy Collins. All the underground hits.
All X-102 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Buzzcocks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Residents,
Flipper,
New Order,
KRS-One,
Bronski Beat,
Warren Ellis,
Nick Fraelich,
The Velvet Underground,
The Gap Band,
Porter Ricks,
Aural Exciters,
Con Funk Shun,
The Dead C,
The Blues Magoos,
Rekid,
The Raincoats,
Lindisfarne,
The Red Krayola,
Moby Grape,
Yazoo,
Brass Construction,
Trumans Water,
Howard Jones,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Funky Four + One,
Al Stewart,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Livin' Joy,
Q and Not U,
Ice-T,
Alton Ellis,
Boz Scaggs,
K-Klass,
The Detroit Cobras,
Neil Young,
Eric Dolphy,
Sun Ra,
EPMD,
Drexciya,
Tomorrow,
David Bowie,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Smog,
Graham Central Station,
The Mojo Men,
Mandrill,
The Dirtbombs,
Sandy B,
Massinfluence,
Ohio Players,
Soul II Soul,
Second Layer,
David Axelrod,
Faraquet,
Johnny Osbourne,
Black Sheep,
The Smoke,
Heaven 17,
The Gladiators,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Lyres,
The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets, The Last Poets.
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.