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 Tuvalu and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Electric Prunes 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 the Association. All the underground hits.
All Sly & The Family Stone tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a China Crisis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
the Sonics,
Jacob Miller,
Barry Ungar,
Byron Stingily,
Chris Corsano,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
the Association,
These Immortal Souls,
Yellowson,
Colin Newman,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Jimmy McGriff,
Shuggie Otis,
Das Ding,
Quadrant,
Harry Pussy,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Cameo,
The Moleskins,
Rufus Thomas,
Electric Prunes,
Kerrie Biddell,
Rites of Spring,
The Selecter,
Crispian St. Peters,
Tropical Tobacco,
Franke,
The United States of America,
Audionom,
Blancmange,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Dawn Penn,
cv313,
Brick,
Curtis Mayfield,
Robert Wyatt,
Fad Gadget,
Be Bop Deluxe,
the Fania All-Stars,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lightning Bolt,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Darondo,
Robert Görl,
The Buckinghams,
Whodini,
Babytalk,
Ludus,
Moss Icon,
Desert Stars,
Kas Product,
Lungfish,
Moby Grape,
Andrew Hill,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Country Teasers,
The Slits,
Ultravox,
Yaz,
Brass Construction,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Faraquet,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.