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 South Sudan and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the electroclash 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 Alison Limerick. All the underground hits.
All Funky Four + One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Crispian St. Peters,
Nation of Ulysses,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Camberwell Now,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Con Funk Shun,
Ornette Coleman,
The Music Machine,
Negative Approach,
Second Layer,
Tears for Fears,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bronski Beat,
Stiv Bators,
The Knickerbockers,
Stetsasonic,
UT,
Wally Richardson,
Davy DMX,
The Buckinghams,
Cecil Taylor,
Traffic Nightmare,
David McCallum,
The Sound,
Icehouse,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Tres Demented,
Lyres,
Fugazi,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Barclay James Harvest,
Lebanon Hanover,
Arcadia,
The Angels of Light,
The Five Americans,
Piero Umiliani,
Agent Orange,
Marshall Jefferson,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Absolute Body Control,
Minny Pops,
Slick Rick,
Cameo,
Marine Girls,
Livin' Joy,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Essential Logic,
Kool Moe Dee,
Symarip,
The J.B.'s,
X-Ray Spex,
Godley & Creme,
Amon Düül II,
Mark Hollis,
Public Image Ltd.,
Easy Going,
Aural Exciters,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Skaos,
Blake Baxter,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.