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 Morocco and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Aswad. All the underground hits.
All The Shadows of Knight tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Angels of Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Niagra,
Pere Ubu,
Absolute Body Control,
Black Sheep,
Ken Boothe,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Harry Pussy,
the Slits,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lower 48,
Average White Band,
Skarface,
X-102,
John Coltrane,
Cal Tjader,
The Kinks,
Young Marble Giants,
Lungfish,
Barclay James Harvest,
Adolescents,
Aloha Tigers,
X-Ray Spex,
Freddie Wadling,
Severed Heads,
Icehouse,
ABC,
The Doors,
Nick Fraelich,
Patti Smith,
The Dirtbombs,
Marc Almond,
Bad Manners,
Erykah Badu,
Sixth Finger,
Procol Harum,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Evens,
Shuggie Otis,
The Saints,
Jacques Brel,
Brothers Johnson,
The Fortunes,
The Beau Brummels,
John Foxx,
The Buckinghams,
The Red Krayola,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Eddi Front,
The Invisible,
Magma,
Peter and Kerry,
Gabor Szabo,
Slick Rick,
Carl Craig,
Con Funk Shun,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Faust,
Moss Icon,
Man Parrish,
Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne, Lindisfarne.
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.