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 Thailand and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Mummies to the dance 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 The Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All The Peanut Butter Conspiracy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every It's A Beautiful Day record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Drexciya record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
Shoche,
Pole,
Blancmange,
Skarface,
Al Stewart,
Don Cherry,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tom Boy,
Scratch Acid,
Roxy Music,
Sun Ra,
David McCallum,
The Five Americans,
Motorama,
Lyres,
Aaron Thompson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ultra Naté,
Andrew Hill,
Leonard Cohen,
Fela Kuti,
Marcia Griffiths,
H. Thieme,
The Misunderstood,
Scion,
B.T. Express,
Adolescents,
Charles Mingus,
Y Pants,
Pantytec,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Hot Snakes,
Eric Copeland,
Donald Byrd,
Buzzcocks,
Crash Course in Science,
Harry Pussy,
The Trojans,
OOIOO,
The Techniques,
Malaria!,
Robert Wyatt,
The Searchers,
Curtis Mayfield,
Smog,
The Gun Club,
Can,
Peter & Gordon,
Rosa Yemen,
Cameo,
Tomorrow,
Alton Ellis,
Unrelated Segments,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Heaven 17,
Joey Negro,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Association,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.