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 Slovakia and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 theremin 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 The Pop Group to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Roxette. All the underground hits.
All Mission of Burma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mad Mike record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television Personalities,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
the Sonics,
Delon & Dalcan,
Brass Construction,
Erykah Badu,
Boredoms,
John Holt,
Donny Hathaway,
Gil Scott Heron,
Josef K,
Minnie Riperton,
Second Layer,
Bill Near,
Heaven 17,
Black Moon,
Lindisfarne,
The Cure,
Harpers Bizarre,
In Retrospect,
Ultimate Spinach,
Brick,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Association,
Franke,
Blancmange,
The Fuzztones,
Quando Quango,
China Crisis,
Joe Smooth,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Beau Brummels,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Aswad,
Robert Hood,
Robert Görl,
June Days,
Tomorrow,
John Cale,
Desert Stars,
Radiohead,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Sonics,
H. Thieme,
Oblivians,
The Fire Engines,
Fear,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Knickerbockers,
Anthony Braxton,
Goldenarms,
the Normal,
Steve Hackett,
The Sound,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Symarip,
Icehouse,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.