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 Brazil and from Seoul.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Theoretical Girls to the grunge 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 Hasil Adkins. All the underground hits.
All Stiv Bators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Television record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moebius,
the Human League,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Spoonie Gee,
Prince Buster,
Rakim,
Slave,
Sandy B,
Organ,
Livin' Joy,
Dennis Brown,
Bootsy Collins,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pylon,
Fatback Band,
Leonard Cohen,
Patti Smith,
Dorothy Ashby,
Radio Birdman,
Sarah Menescal,
Cameo,
The Vogues,
Don Cherry,
Stereo Dub,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scratch Acid,
Jeff Mills,
Aswad,
Deakin,
PIL,
The Slackers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
MC5,
Steve Hackett,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Quantec,
DJ Sneak,
Mars,
Hasil Adkins,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Neu!,
Agitation Free,
Lindisfarne,
Matthew Halsall,
John Cale,
Fad Gadget,
Curtis Mayfield,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Golliwogs,
Public Image Ltd.,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Jeff Lynne,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Victims,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Eric Copeland,
The Index,
Colin Newman,
Saccharine Trust,
The Martian, The Martian, The Martian, The Martian.
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.