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 Zimbabwe and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Michael McDonald 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 Last Poets to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Yaz. All the underground hits.
All the Human League tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Radio Birdman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
John Holt,
The Happenings,
The Durutti Column,
Jandek,
The J.B.'s,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Cramps,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Basic Channel,
Grauzone,
Babytalk,
Joe Finger,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
the Bar-Kays,
Scan 7,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Seeds,
The Divine Comedy,
Subhumans,
Trumans Water,
New Age Steppers,
Talk Talk,
Wasted Youth,
The Invisible,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ultra Naté,
The Kinks,
Sex Pistols,
The Velvet Underground,
Lou Reed,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Wake,
Derrick May,
Aswad,
Marvin Gaye,
Joe Smooth,
Pierre Henry,
Amon Düül II,
48th St. Collective,
Kenny Larkin,
Judy Mowatt,
Thee Headcoats,
Young Marble Giants,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Roxette,
Hot Snakes,
The Young Rascals,
Peter and Kerry,
The Motions,
June of 44,
Bang On A Can,
Fugazi,
John Foxx,
Gang Starr,
AZ,
Duran Duran,
Colin Newman,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
A Flock of Seagulls, A Flock of Seagulls, A Flock of Seagulls, A Flock of Seagulls.
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.