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 Albania and from Lagos.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 The Raincoats to the rock 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 The Flesh Eaters. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Goldenarms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 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 Pere Ubu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
JFA,
Reagan Youth,
The Moleskins,
Tropical Tobacco,
Danielle Patucci,
Alphaville,
Terry Callier,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
the Human League,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Don Cherry,
Joe Finger,
Junior Murvin,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Pere Ubu,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Interpol,
Girls At Our Best!,
Babytalk,
Masters at Work,
Icehouse,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Japan,
Letta Mbulu,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
OOIOO,
Gang of Four,
Bizarre Inc.,
Anthony Braxton,
Avey Tare,
This Heat,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Trojans,
The Red Krayola,
Popol Vuh,
Sun Ra,
The Doors,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Music Machine,
The Martian,
Mo-Dettes,
Sam Rivers,
Drive Like Jehu,
Nick Fraelich,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Stooges,
D'Angelo,
Gichy Dan,
Marc Almond,
Suburban Knight,
Brass Construction,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Grey Daturas,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Erasure,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bush Tetras,
Absolute Body Control,
Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai, Arthur Verocai.
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.