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 Malta and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 sitar 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 Smog to the rap 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 Dorothy Ashby. All the underground hits.
All Tears for Fears tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Max Romeo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sonics,
The Alarm Clocks,
Janne Schatter,
Lower 48,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eden Ahbez,
X-Ray Spex,
Mo-Dettes,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Oneida,
the Slits,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Public Enemy,
La Düsseldorf,
World's Most,
Patti Smith,
Harmonia,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ralphi Rosario,
10cc,
Black Moon,
Quadrant,
Terry Callier,
New York Dolls,
Lalo Schifrin,
Reuben Wilson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Excepter,
Porter Ricks,
The Slackers,
Joyce Sims,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Jandek,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Drive Like Jehu,
Babytalk,
MDC,
The Gun Club,
These Immortal Souls,
David Axelrod,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
In Retrospect,
Slave,
Godley & Creme,
Ultravox,
June Days,
Zero Boys,
Sam Rivers,
Deakin,
Thee Headcoats,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Groovy Waters,
John Cale,
Buzzcocks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bang on a Can All-Stars.
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.