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 Lebanon and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Joe Smooth to the jazz 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Art Ensemble Of Chicago record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scan 7,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Jeff Lynne,
Donald Byrd,
Das Ding,
UT,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Flipper,
Fluxion,
Barrington Levy,
Grauzone,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The United States of America,
Brick,
Man Eating Sloth,
Warsaw,
U.S. Maple,
James White and The Blacks,
Essential Logic,
Lower 48,
Leonard Cohen,
Deakin,
Infiniti,
Kas Product,
Warren Ellis,
Rod Modell,
Wally Richardson,
Mandrill,
Dennis Brown,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Smiths,
Slick Rick,
Cal Tjader,
Terry Callier,
X-102,
the Bar-Kays,
The Index,
The Blackbyrds,
Man Parrish,
Bob Dylan,
Country Teasers,
the Soft Cell,
Kaleidoscope,
The Barracudas,
Surgeon,
Black Flag,
Idris Muhammad,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Association,
Visage,
Mo-Dettes,
Bluetip,
Nico,
Yazoo,
Can,
The Names,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bad Manners,
Cameo,
Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears.
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.