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 Equatorial Guinea and from Glasgow.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Gang Gang Dance to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Mr. Review. All the underground hits.
All Angels of Light & Akron/Family tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nation of Ulysses 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a MDC record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Shadows of Knight,
The Neon Judgement,
Johnny Osbourne,
X-Ray Spex,
Country Teasers,
Harpers Bizarre,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Joy Division,
Goldenarms,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Iggy Pop,
Scrapy,
Patti Smith,
Kenny Larkin,
Lalann,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Absolute Body Control,
Radiopuhelimet,
Neu!,
Television,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Index,
Ponytail,
DJ Sneak,
Quando Quango,
Underground Resistance,
X-101,
The Doors,
Spoonie Gee,
Rakim,
Colin Newman,
Skarface,
Soul Sonic Force,
Jacob Miller,
the Soft Cell,
The Gap Band,
The Mummies,
Severed Heads,
K-Klass,
Silicon Teens,
David Axelrod,
Kurtis Blow,
Todd Terry,
Connie Case,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
MDC,
Franke,
Donny Hathaway,
Camouflage,
Newcleus,
Delon & Dalcan,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Suburban Knight,
DNA,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Q65,
Sarah Menescal,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Whodini, Whodini, Whodini, Whodini.
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.