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 Uganda and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Scratch Acid to the techno 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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Michelle Simonal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every De La Soul & Jungle Brothers 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angry Samoans,
Fear,
The Count Five,
The Associates,
Brothers Johnson,
Saccharine Trust,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Moleskins,
Barclay James Harvest,
Quantec,
Simply Red,
Glenn Branca,
CMW,
David Axelrod,
The Buckinghams,
Wasted Youth,
Panda Bear,
MDC,
Archie Shepp,
Wings,
Lou Reed,
Marine Girls,
the Normal,
Aloha Tigers,
Rufus Thomas,
Brick,
The Walker Brothers,
AZ,
Colin Newman,
The Leaves,
Drexciya,
Ohio Players,
The Five Americans,
Babytalk,
The Velvet Underground,
Ten City,
Cheater Slicks,
China Crisis,
Kayak,
Rites of Spring,
This Heat,
The Saints,
Shuggie Otis,
Altered Images,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Zapp,
Skarface,
June Days,
Vladislav Delay,
Faraquet,
Khruangbin,
Marshall Jefferson,
Infiniti,
Absolute Body Control,
Q65,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Amazonics,
Aswad,
Chris Corsano,
The Residents,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox.
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.