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 Kyrgyzstan and from Toronto.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mandrill to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tommy Roe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Angels of Light & Akron/Family record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
Television Personalities,
Tommy Roe,
Dave Gahan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Roxette,
The Mighty Diamonds,
June Days,
Babytalk,
Grandmaster Flash,
Jimmy McGriff,
Technova,
Johnny Osbourne,
Oblivians,
Grey Daturas,
Main Source,
Rites of Spring,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Tomorrow,
Yazoo,
The Busters,
The Doobie Brothers,
the Fania All-Stars,
John Coltrane,
Crooked Eye,
Sex Pistols,
Alton Ellis,
Juan Atkins,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Donald Byrd,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Warren Ellis,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Crispy Ambulance,
Stetsasonic,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Joy Division,
the Bar-Kays,
Throbbing Gristle,
Terry Callier,
Scientists,
Intrusion,
Arthur Verocai,
The Standells,
The Index,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
cv313,
The Alarm Clocks,
DNA,
ABC,
The Victims,
The Electric Prunes,
Alphaville,
10cc,
H. Thieme,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Eric Copeland,
Absolute Body Control,
Nick Fraelich,
The Associates,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.