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 Ukraine and from Beijing.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Barclay James Harvest to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Marvin Gaye. All the underground hits.
All Ultramagnetic MC's tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Theoretical Girls 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faraquet,
D'Angelo,
Funky Four + One,
Clear Light,
The Associates,
the Human League,
Erykah Badu,
Bauhaus,
The Neon Judgement,
Ronan,
Jawbox,
Gang Green,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Modern Lovers,
Alton Ellis,
Toni Rubio,
Eve St. Jones,
K-Klass,
Thompson Twins,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sight & Sound,
Q65,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gang Gang Dance,
Donny Hathaway,
Pussy Galore,
Erasure,
Jacob Miller,
Radiohead,
Sixth Finger,
Circle Jerks,
Television,
Isaac Hayes,
Gabor Szabo,
Arcadia,
Brick,
Gang of Four,
Glenn Branca,
Roy Ayers,
Rites of Spring,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ultra Naté,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Reuben Wilson,
Cheater Slicks,
Half Japanese,
The Cure,
Glambeats Corp.,
Country Teasers,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Gladiators,
Delta 5,
Matthew Halsall,
Deakin,
R.M.O.,
David Axelrod,
The Selecter,
Second Layer,
Yaz,
Mad Mike,
The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas, The Barracudas.
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.