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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Spokane.
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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Sad Lovers and Giants to the techno 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 Dorothy Ashby. All the underground hits.
All Alison Limerick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mo-Dettes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angry Samoans,
Amon Düül,
Leonard Cohen,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Roger Hodgson,
Don Cherry,
a-ha,
Ultravox,
Peter & Gordon,
Flipper,
Absolute Body Control,
Spandau Ballet,
The Shadows of Knight,
Judy Mowatt,
David Axelrod,
The Smoke,
ABBA,
A Certain Ratio,
The Five Americans,
Henry Cow,
Ronnie Foster,
Funky Four + One,
Ten City,
Lucky Dragons,
Qualms,
Gang of Four,
Bauhaus,
Maleditus Sound,
Terrestrial Tones,
Yellowson,
Intrusion,
Alison Limerick,
Blossom Toes,
Anthony Braxton,
Tropical Tobacco,
Marc Almond,
Toni Rubio,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Drive Like Jehu,
John Coltrane,
The Barracudas,
The J.B.'s,
The Last Poets,
Country Teasers,
Todd Rundgren,
Alton Ellis,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bobby Sherman,
The Birthday Party,
The Blues Magoos,
The Velvet Underground,
Ken Boothe,
Desert Stars,
Roxy Music,
Flamin' Groovies,
Bill Near,
Fugazi,
F. McDonald,
Amon Düül II,
Man Eating Sloth,
Basic Channel,
Erasure,
the Human League,
Franke, Franke, Franke, Franke.
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.