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 Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Albert Ayler to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Mummies. All the underground hits.
All Cabaret Voltaire tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Marvin Gaye,
The Birthday Party,
The Blackbyrds,
Sister Nancy,
JFA,
Saccharine Trust,
The Young Rascals,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
the Association,
The Star Department,
Anthony Braxton,
Camberwell Now,
Gang Gang Dance,
Flipper,
The Monks,
The Skatalites,
Barbara Tucker,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Robert Görl,
The Selecter,
Eurythmics,
Wire,
The Martian,
Smog,
Das Ding,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Swans,
Sugar Minott,
The Dave Clark Five,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Real Kids,
Unrelated Segments,
Oneida,
Hasil Adkins,
Joey Negro,
Freddie Wadling,
The Monochrome Set,
Underground Resistance,
Eli Mardock,
Jawbox,
Quando Quango,
Talk Talk,
Grauzone,
Gabor Szabo,
Gang Starr,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
T.S.O.L.,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Stockholm Monsters,
Joe Finger,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sonic Youth,
Roxy Music,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Audionom,
Bob Dylan,
Pussy Galore,
The Saints,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.