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 Austria and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 808 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 Minnie Riperton to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Henry Cow. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nation of Ulysses record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Prince Buster,
Donny Hathaway,
Ultra Naté,
The Raincoats,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Fugs,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Dorothy Ashby,
China Crisis,
The Misunderstood,
DJ Style,
Lakeside,
The Cramps,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
ABC,
Parry Music,
Sex Pistols,
Colin Newman,
Suburban Knight,
Minnie Riperton,
Yazoo,
X-101,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Electric Prunes,
Slick Rick,
FM Einheit,
Dawn Penn,
Steve Hackett,
Interpol,
Sun City Girls,
Joe Smooth,
Kerri Chandler,
Dark Day,
Rhythm & Sound,
Skriet,
Shoche,
Joey Negro,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Trojans,
The Pretty Things,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kayak,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Jacques Brel,
Ten City,
Man Eating Sloth,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Patti Smith,
Cal Tjader,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Moby Grape,
Yusef Lateef,
Lightning Bolt,
Arthur Verocai,
Tubeway Army,
Arab on Radar,
UT,
Charles Mingus,
The Searchers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.