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 Bangladesh and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Tokyo.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the theremin 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 De La Soul & Jungle Brothers. All the underground hits.
All The Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hashim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Bar-Kays,
Steve Hackett,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
David Axelrod,
Arthur Verocai,
The Flesh Eaters,
Minny Pops,
Lalo Schifrin,
Bill Wells,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Zapp,
Mary Jane Girls,
Delta 5,
Fluxion,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Youth Brigade,
UT,
The Motions,
ABBA,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Smiths,
Mark Hollis,
The Remains,
X-101,
Amon Düül,
Barry Ungar,
Accadde A,
Barbara Tucker,
DNA,
Ken Boothe,
Terry Callier,
Metal Thangz,
Monks,
Sugar Minott,
The Fall,
The Barracudas,
The Five Americans,
Nico,
Neil Young,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fugazi,
The Wake,
Intrusion,
The American Breed,
the Normal,
New Order,
The Blues Magoos,
The United States of America,
Blancmange,
The Victims,
The Young Rascals,
Leonard Cohen,
The Gories,
The Music Machine,
Sarah Menescal,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.