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 El Salvador and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 synthesizer 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the jazz 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 Drive Like Jehu. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Animal Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Eli Mardock,
These Immortal Souls,
La Düsseldorf,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Iggy Pop,
Josef K,
The Beau Brummels,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Isaac Hayes,
Sarah Menescal,
Man Parrish,
Jerry's Kids,
Lower 48,
Technova,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Eve St. Jones,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Human League,
Urselle,
Lightning Bolt,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Matthew Halsall,
Cal Tjader,
Country Teasers,
Skriet,
Duran Duran,
Morten Harket,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Suburban Knight,
Nico,
Crime,
Ohio Players,
Moebius,
Sexual Harrassment,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Michelle Simonal,
Bad Manners,
Quadrant,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Y Pants,
Glenn Branca,
Ludus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Pharoah Sanders,
Soulsonic Force,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Terrestrial Tones,
Stetsasonic,
In Retrospect,
Grauzone,
The Knickerbockers,
Yellowson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Slits,
Zapp,
Mars,
Harpers Bizarre,
Alton Ellis,
Scott Walker,
Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack, Bobby Womack.
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.