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 Slovakia and from Mumbai.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Scrapy to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jawbox 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doors record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
Fear,
Bootsy Collins,
Al Stewart,
Funky Four + One,
The Zeros,
Cecil Taylor,
Barbara Tucker,
Gabor Szabo,
The Evens,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gang Gang Dance,
Drive Like Jehu,
Godley & Creme,
Brass Construction,
Spoonie Gee,
Lightning Bolt,
Letta Mbulu,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bronski Beat,
MDC,
Rufus Thomas,
Lou Reed,
Swans,
The Angels of Light,
Bill Wells,
Robert Hood,
Matthew Bourne,
the Normal,
Joyce Sims,
The Doobie Brothers,
Roger Hodgson,
Quando Quango,
Flipper,
Peter & Gordon,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Leonard Cohen,
James Chance & The Contortions,
48th St. Collective,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Kinks,
OOIOO,
Scientists,
The Knickerbockers,
Tears for Fears,
Alton Ellis,
Yusef Lateef,
Jeff Mills,
Dave Gahan,
Derrick Morgan,
The Fugs,
Harpers Bizarre,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Sound,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Unrelated Segments,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Cramps,
Simply Red,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.