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 Estonia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Oblivians to the punk 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 Jesper Dahlback. All the underground hits.
All Von Mondo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
Moebius,
Bobby Byrd,
Graham Central Station,
Erykah Badu,
Kas Product,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Slits,
Parry Music,
Television Personalities,
Depeche Mode,
Amon Düül,
Kerri Chandler,
Ossler,
Todd Terry,
Maurizio,
Funkadelic,
The Names,
Heaven 17,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Kinks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Mark Hollis,
Bobby Sherman,
Piero Umiliani,
Robert Görl,
Tomorrow,
Technova,
Lalann,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Unwound,
Terrestrial Tones,
H. Thieme,
Cheater Slicks,
Das Ding,
Soft Cell,
Smog,
Dorothy Ashby,
Urselle,
Tropical Tobacco,
Massinfluence,
Chrome,
Hardrive,
Faust,
Monks,
Bluetip,
Ultimate Spinach,
Wings,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Barrington Levy,
Gregory Isaacs,
Robert Hood,
Idris Muhammad,
Cal Tjader,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Shadows of Knight,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
OOIOO,
Metal Thangz,
Ultravox,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.