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 Ghana and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 Paris and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 marimba 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 The Music Machine to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sad Lovers and Giants. All the underground hits.
All Drexciya tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 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 Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
The Fortunes,
Loose Ends,
The Human League,
Toni Rubio,
Public Enemy,
Sam Rivers,
Cluster,
The Birthday Party,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
PIL,
Average White Band,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ohio Players,
EPMD,
Graham Central Station,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Clear Light,
Fela Kuti,
Blossom Toes,
Bizarre Inc.,
Yusef Lateef,
Soul Sonic Force,
Matthew Bourne,
Hasil Adkins,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Severed Heads,
La Düsseldorf,
Bobby Womack,
Arab on Radar,
Donald Byrd,
KRS-One,
Basic Channel,
Ponytail,
Radiohead,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Delta 5,
Man Parrish,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
K-Klass,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Shuggie Otis,
Jacob Miller,
Terry Callier,
These Immortal Souls,
Bauhaus,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Cramps,
Scott Walker,
Lyres,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Radiopuhelimet,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Arthur Verocai,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Sugar Minott,
Kenny Larkin,
Chris Corsano,
David Bowie,
Stetsasonic,
Crispian St. Peters,
Can,
Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now.
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.