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 Ecuador and from Delhi.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 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 Sun City Girls to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Shoche. All the underground hits.
All Bob Dylan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cabaret Voltaire 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Skatalites record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lakeside,
Yazoo,
Oblivians,
Eden Ahbez,
Josef K,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Thompson Twins,
Reagan Youth,
B.T. Express,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Move,
John Coltrane,
Scratch Acid,
Dead Boys,
Deepchord,
The Remains,
Radiohead,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Goldenarms,
Rotary Connection,
Supertramp,
Aloha Tigers,
EPMD,
The Stooges,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pet Shop Boys,
D'Angelo,
Sugar Minott,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Freddie Wadling,
Robert Hood,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Neu!,
The Knickerbockers,
The Cramps,
ABC,
L. Decosne,
Sex Pistols,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Sight & Sound,
The Neon Judgement,
The Misunderstood,
Duran Duran,
A Certain Ratio,
UT,
Sam Rivers,
Whodini,
The Victims,
Sister Nancy,
Royal Trux,
Tom Boy,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Oneida,
Severed Heads,
Quantec,
Alice Coltrane,
Rekid,
Wally Richardson,
Roger Hodgson,
Flamin' Groovies,
Mark Hollis,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.