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 South Sudan and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 spring reverb 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 Cluster to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Barry Ungar. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sisters of Mercy 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nation of Ulysses,
Spandau Ballet,
Fear,
Youth Brigade,
Accadde A,
Colin Newman,
Ten City,
Donny Hathaway,
Skriet,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Isaac Hayes,
The Fire Engines,
Toni Rubio,
The Standells,
Con Funk Shun,
John Holt,
Mantronix,
Sam Rivers,
The Evens,
Wasted Youth,
Agent Orange,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Los Fastidios,
Symarip,
Rod Modell,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Arthur Verocai,
Alice Coltrane,
Cymande,
Lee Hazlewood,
Chris Corsano,
The Doobie Brothers,
DJ Style,
AZ,
Depeche Mode,
Chris & Cosey,
Matthew Bourne,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Alphaville,
The Monks,
Derrick Morgan,
Chrome,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Human League,
Fad Gadget,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Erykah Badu,
Infiniti,
Kayak,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Man Eating Sloth,
Minutemen,
The Martian,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Idris Muhammad,
Wings,
Mad Mike,
Piero Umiliani,
Suicide,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.