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 Senegal and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Barbara Tucker to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Yaz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cecil Taylor 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül,
Byron Stingily,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Grandmaster Flash,
Arab on Radar,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Soul II Soul,
Cal Tjader,
Yusef Lateef,
The Slits,
Mission of Burma,
Joy Division,
Frankie Knuckles,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Los Fastidios,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Niagra,
Unrelated Segments,
Technova,
Andrew Hill,
Mary Jane Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Electric Prunes,
Hasil Adkins,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Neon Judgement,
Boz Scaggs,
Donald Byrd,
Moebius,
The Victims,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Ice-T,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Cecil Taylor,
Chrome,
Barrington Levy,
Agent Orange,
Kerrie Biddell,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
10cc,
Freddie Wadling,
The Cure,
Au Pairs,
The Motions,
the Sonics,
The Last Poets,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
John Foxx,
Country Teasers,
Scrapy,
Circle Jerks,
New Age Steppers,
Black Flag,
Tom Boy,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Rufus Thomas,
The Moleskins,
Pussy Galore,
Babytalk,
Altered Images,
The Slackers,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.