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 Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 marimba 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 Scott Walker + Sunn O))) to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 In Retrospect. All the underground hits.
All Angels of Light & Akron/Family tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flamin' Groovies 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
Godley & Creme,
Royal Trux,
ABC,
Lower 48,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Cameo,
Television Personalities,
Matthew Bourne,
Black Flag,
The Slits,
Kaleidoscope,
Bootsy Collins,
The Standells,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Techniques,
Massinfluence,
Crash Course in Science,
Clear Light,
Fugazi,
the Germs,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Oneida,
Donald Byrd,
The Divine Comedy,
Barbara Tucker,
Dennis Brown,
The United States of America,
Nils Olav,
Thee Headcoats,
Soul II Soul,
This Heat,
the Association,
Soulsonic Force,
ABBA,
The Knickerbockers,
Marcia Griffiths,
Joe Finger,
Electric Prunes,
Alphaville,
Excepter,
Ultravox,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Fat Boys,
Zero Boys,
The Selecter,
Warsaw,
Sister Nancy,
Pagans,
Bobby Womack,
Dawn Penn,
The Leaves,
Todd Rundgren,
Swans,
The Blackbyrds,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pantaleimon,
Jeff Mills,
Kevin Saunderson,
Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls, Marine Girls.
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.