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 Tuvalu and from Taipei.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Malaria! to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All Cheater Slicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ohio Players 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Franke,
U.S. Maple,
Reagan Youth,
Oblivians,
Sister Nancy,
Eddi Front,
X-101,
Q and Not U,
The Blackbyrds,
Laurel Aitken,
In Retrospect,
T. Rex,
Severed Heads,
Freddie Wadling,
Harry Pussy,
Toni Rubio,
MC5,
The Blues Magoos,
La Düsseldorf,
Isaac Hayes,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Peter & Gordon,
The Birthday Party,
The Skatalites,
Grauzone,
Easy Going,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Boredoms,
Sällskapet,
The Evens,
Lindisfarne,
Don Cherry,
The Cramps,
The Smoke,
Cecil Taylor,
Youth Brigade,
Lou Reed,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Panda Bear,
Pussy Galore,
Girls At Our Best!,
Mark Hollis,
Cybotron,
Half Japanese,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Procol Harum,
Derrick May,
Joyce Sims,
H. Thieme,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Albert Ayler,
Agent Orange,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Swans,
Minnie Riperton,
Magma,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Charles Mingus,
Country Teasers,
The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds.
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.