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 Kyrgyzstan and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Barbara Tucker 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 The Human League. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
The Tremeloes,
Lalann,
LL Cool J,
The Busters,
Half Japanese,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jandek,
Thompson Twins,
CMW,
Ultra Naté,
Gichy Dan,
OOIOO,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Happenings,
48th St. Collective,
Robert Wyatt,
Aloha Tigers,
Archie Shepp,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Guru Guru,
Fluxion,
Oneida,
Negative Approach,
Vainqueur,
This Heat,
Black Pus,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Donny Hathaway,
Kerrie Biddell,
Yazoo,
The Toasters,
Motorama,
Jesper Dahlback,
Susan Cadogan,
Soul II Soul,
Heaven 17,
The Knickerbockers,
James White and The Blacks,
Soulsonic Force,
Marvin Gaye,
Trumans Water,
Youth Brigade,
Kool Moe Dee,
Joy Division,
Stockholm Monsters,
Leonard Cohen,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gregory Isaacs,
EPMD,
The Motions,
Bill Wells,
the Human League,
the Sonics,
John Cale,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sun Ra,
Eve St. Jones,
Danielle Patucci,
The United States of America,
Terrestrial Tones,
Marine Girls,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.