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 Guyana and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Manila and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flamin' Groovies 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?
Saccharine Trust,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Monochrome Set,
Gerry Rafferty,
Unwound,
Reuben Wilson,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Simply Red,
The Divine Comedy,
Aural Exciters,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Monks,
Liliput,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Groovy Waters,
Max Romeo,
Fela Kuti,
The Trojans,
Rakim,
World's Most,
John Holt,
Pere Ubu,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sister Nancy,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Camberwell Now,
Oblivians,
Visage,
DJ Sneak,
Charles Mingus,
Grandmaster Flash,
Porter Ricks,
Johnny Osbourne,
John Foxx,
Robert Görl,
Tim Buckley,
Kool Moe Dee,
Crash Course in Science,
Scion,
Josef K,
The Mojo Men,
Ash Ra Tempel,
the Germs,
Moebius,
Banda Bassotti,
Rufus Thomas,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Seeds,
X-101,
Vladislav Delay,
Jesper Dahlback,
Stockholm Monsters,
Deakin,
Soulsonic Force,
Sixth Finger,
Black Sheep,
The Beau Brummels,
Bobby Byrd,
New Age Steppers,
Boz Scaggs,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Mummies,
Con Funk Shun,
Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken, Laurel Aitken.
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.