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 Vanuatu and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Lou Reed 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 Colin Newman to the disco 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 Aswad. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every E-Dancer 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Halsall record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Zero Boys,
The Gap Band,
Moebius,
Popol Vuh,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
DNA,
the Swans,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Grass Roots,
Essential Logic,
Rhythm & Sound,
Cymande,
Joey Negro,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Standells,
Jesper Dahlback,
Procol Harum,
China Crisis,
Fear,
Stetsasonic,
Pantaleimon,
Y Pants,
Niagra,
Khruangbin,
Q and Not U,
Desert Stars,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Sugar Minott,
Au Pairs,
Sandy B,
Leonard Cohen,
Yellowson,
The Dave Clark Five,
Visage,
The Real Kids,
Nico,
June of 44,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dead Boys,
Eric B and Rakim,
Slick Rick,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Darondo,
Max Romeo,
CMW,
The Barracudas,
The Five Americans,
Average White Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
Arcadia,
Junior Murvin,
The J.B.'s,
Audionom,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Tropical Tobacco,
Eric Copeland,
The Flesh Eaters,
Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell, Rod Modell.
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.