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 Guyana and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Country Joe & The Fish to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Sam Rivers. All the underground hits.
All N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gories record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Slits,
EPMD,
Johnny Osbourne,
Blake Baxter,
Hoover,
Camberwell Now,
La Düsseldorf,
Model 500,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
the Swans,
Index,
Maleditus Sound,
Gabor Szabo,
Q and Not U,
Junior Murvin,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Wake,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
the Soft Cell,
Gang Gang Dance,
Fela Kuti,
Barbara Tucker,
Angry Samoans,
Ultra Naté,
B.T. Express,
Gerry Rafferty,
Rakim,
Pylon,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Echospace,
The Motions,
Ultravox,
Robert Görl,
10cc,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Eric Dolphy,
Patti Smith,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Dead C,
Moss Icon,
Agent Orange,
the Human League,
Stockholm Monsters,
Organ,
New Order,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Zeros,
Goldenarms,
Magazine,
Deepchord,
David Bowie,
Sex Pistols,
Youth Brigade,
Talk Talk,
Neu!,
Tim Buckley,
Hardrive,
The Seeds,
D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo, D'Angelo.
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.