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 Guatemala and from Houston.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Tehran.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Lightning Bolt to the dance 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 The Blues Magoos. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Clear Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Ludus,
Babytalk,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Birthday Party,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Warsaw,
Jesper Dahlback,
World's Most,
The Star Department,
Jerry's Kids,
Swans,
Theoretical Girls,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Marmalade,
Charles Mingus,
The Fire Engines,
Simply Red,
Outsiders,
Massinfluence,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
R.M.O.,
Lindisfarne,
Public Image Ltd.,
Soft Cell,
Liliput,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Crash Course in Science,
Bush Tetras,
Sandy B,
Country Teasers,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Isaac Hayes,
Q65,
Boredoms,
Cecil Taylor,
Main Source,
Curtis Mayfield,
Heaven 17,
Reuben Wilson,
Terry Callier,
Suburban Knight,
Darondo,
The Mojo Men,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Scrapy,
Ponytail,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Dual Sessions,
Bill Near,
Althea and Donna,
Agent Orange,
Matthew Bourne,
Bang On A Can,
Symarip,
X-102,
A Certain Ratio,
Mr. Review,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.