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 Norway and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Happenings to the disco 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Simply Red 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
the Soft Cell,
Gerry Rafferty,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Frankie Knuckles,
Gregory Isaacs,
Gong,
Lakeside,
The Index,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Howard Jones,
L. Decosne,
10cc,
Derrick May,
JFA,
Thee Headcoats,
Nik Kershaw,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Susan Cadogan,
D'Angelo,
Sun Ra,
The Divine Comedy,
The Monochrome Set,
Soulsonic Force,
Darondo,
The Fuzztones,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Jacques Brel,
The Last Poets,
Lalo Schifrin,
Don Cherry,
Gabor Szabo,
The Human League,
New Order,
The Angels of Light,
Swell Maps,
Isaac Hayes,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Seeds,
Anthony Braxton,
Ponytail,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Litter,
Gang Starr,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Grandmaster Flash,
Niagra,
Organ,
The Associates,
Fad Gadget,
Hoover,
Saccharine Trust,
Moby Grape,
Flash Fearless,
Sarah Menescal,
Pere Ubu,
Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar, Arab on Radar.
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.