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 Congo and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Yusef Lateef to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Buzzcocks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Pus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jimmy McGriff,
Shoche,
F. McDonald,
Man Parrish,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Jesper Dahlback,
Deadbeat,
Freddie Wadling,
Gerry Rafferty,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Skatalites,
Neil Young,
Graham Central Station,
Janne Schatter,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Move,
Angry Samoans,
Warsaw,
Amon Düül II,
Crooked Eye,
Donny Hathaway,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Gap Band,
These Immortal Souls,
Howard Jones,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Charles Mingus,
Zapp,
Toni Rubio,
Radiopuhelimet,
Fad Gadget,
Dual Sessions,
The Doobie Brothers,
Lebanon Hanover,
Jandek,
The Smiths,
Nico,
The Alarm Clocks,
Can,
Wire,
Nas,
Sugar Minott,
The Offenders,
Shuggie Otis,
The Vogues,
Basic Channel,
Harpers Bizarre,
David Axelrod,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Grauzone,
PIL,
Eddi Front,
Sarah Menescal,
Half Japanese,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Five Americans,
Interpol,
Khruangbin,
OOIOO,
Lou Reed,
Barry Ungar,
Thompson Twins,
Excepter, Excepter, Excepter, Excepter.
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.