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 Brunei and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 spring reverb 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the punk 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 Gang Starr. All the underground hits.
All The Litter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Residents record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Television,
Althea and Donna,
Aloha Tigers,
The Monochrome Set,
Alice Coltrane,
Eric Dolphy,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Judy Mowatt,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
David McCallum,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Terry Callier,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Gun Club,
Faust,
Maurizio,
Barclay James Harvest,
Albert Ayler,
Grandmaster Flash,
Shuggie Otis,
PIL,
The Gladiators,
Suburban Knight,
the Soft Cell,
The Evens,
Jandek,
The Modern Lovers,
Grauzone,
Eli Mardock,
Scan 7,
Lindisfarne,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Cowsills,
The Count Five,
Ice-T,
Clear Light,
New York Dolls,
Amon Düül II,
Camberwell Now,
The Music Machine,
Loose Ends,
Sonic Youth,
Easy Going,
Black Pus,
The Blues Magoos,
The Young Rascals,
The Stooges,
Icehouse,
Magma,
Chrome,
The Gap Band,
World's Most,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Joyce Sims,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Derrick Morgan,
Fear,
Simply Red,
Absolute Body Control,
Little Man,
KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One, KRS-One.
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.