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 Gabon and from Houston.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 theremin 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 Kango’s Stein Massive to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Japan. All the underground hits.
All Johnny Clarke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blossom Toes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Throbbing Gristle,
The Knickerbockers,
Brand Nubian,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Bobby Womack,
The Angels of Light,
Scrapy,
Ultravox,
Chris & Cosey,
Jacob Miller,
Bang On A Can,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Tears for Fears,
The Electric Prunes,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Grandmaster Flash,
Kurtis Blow,
Sun Ra,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
This Heat,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Detroit Cobras,
Pantytec,
Alison Limerick,
ABBA,
The Monks,
Heaven 17,
Parry Music,
Alton Ellis,
Barry Ungar,
Ronan,
Blossom Toes,
June of 44,
Juan Atkins,
The J.B.'s,
The Durutti Column,
The Offenders,
Thee Headcoats,
Organ,
UT,
The Remains,
Accadde A,
Sugar Minott,
Das Ding,
Pylon,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Fortunes,
Mission of Burma,
Marmalade,
Derrick May,
Inner City,
Fluxion,
The Raincoats,
Carl Craig,
Ponytail,
Lalann,
Colin Newman,
David Axelrod,
LL Cool J,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Stetsasonic,
Warsaw,
Country Teasers,
8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy, 8 Eyed Spy.
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.