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 Tanzania and from Edmonton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Lyres 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 Tommy Roe. All the underground hits.
All Unrelated Segments tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sad Lovers and Giants 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
Jerry Gold Smith,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Joensuu 1685,
Frankie Knuckles,
Cal Tjader,
Underground Resistance,
Andrew Hill,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
the Germs,
Nico,
One Last Wish,
R.M.O.,
Rapeman,
Lou Reed,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ice-T,
Talk Talk,
Theoretical Girls,
Yusef Lateef,
Funkadelic,
Wolf Eyes,
Reagan Youth,
David Axelrod,
Curtis Mayfield,
The New Christs,
Tom Boy,
Wally Richardson,
Fear,
Royal Trux,
The Red Krayola,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Parry Music,
The United States of America,
Piero Umiliani,
Soul II Soul,
Chrome,
The Cowsills,
The Victims,
Negative Approach,
Ornette Coleman,
Wings,
Eric B and Rakim,
Lindisfarne,
Dennis Brown,
Donald Byrd,
Rod Modell,
Television Personalities,
The Happenings,
Whodini,
Oblivians,
Index,
U.S. Maple,
Sugar Minott,
The Slits,
Roxy Music,
Warren Ellis,
Hardrive,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.