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 Poland and from Lagos.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 arpeggiator 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 Ponytail to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Mummies. All the underground hits.
All The Vogues tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Icehouse record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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,
Youth Brigade,
Cymande,
Blake Baxter,
Easy Going,
K-Klass,
Kerri Chandler,
The Residents,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Crooked Eye,
Trumans Water,
Max Romeo,
Unwound,
Peter & Gordon,
Lyres,
Index,
Reuben Wilson,
Vainqueur,
Goldenarms,
Boogie Down Productions,
Henry Cow,
Faust,
Arthur Verocai,
Theoretical Girls,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Echospace,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Boz Scaggs,
Soulsonic Force,
Chris Corsano,
Tommy Roe,
Yazoo,
Pulsallama,
Fatback Band,
Grauzone,
Organ,
Barrington Levy,
Scion,
Underground Resistance,
Nick Fraelich,
Dave Gahan,
Moby Grape,
The Mummies,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Velvet Underground,
Suburban Knight,
Ossler,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Motions,
Symarip,
Don Cherry,
Joy Division,
Skaos,
Sandy B,
Roger Hodgson,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Index,
Malaria!,
Fluxion,
The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter, The Selecter.
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.