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 Poland and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 chamberlin 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 Robert Wyatt to the rap 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 Barrington Levy. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mummies 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rites of Spring,
Reuben Wilson,
Amazonics,
Scott Walker,
Flash Fearless,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Derrick Morgan,
Stereo Dub,
Lower 48,
Scratch Acid,
Soft Cell,
Colin Newman,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bush Tetras,
Anthony Braxton,
Lalo Schifrin,
CMW,
Minutemen,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ronan,
Lou Reed,
OOIOO,
The Leaves,
World's Most,
Kurtis Blow,
The Invisible,
Minnie Riperton,
The Motions,
Cheater Slicks,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
June of 44,
Reagan Youth,
Rosa Yemen,
Pantytec,
Nico,
Eve St. Jones,
Theoretical Girls,
Isaac Hayes,
H. Thieme,
Nas,
The Doors,
Derrick May,
The Searchers,
Hot Snakes,
Little Man,
Bizarre Inc.,
Wire,
Flamin' Groovies,
Jeru the Damaja,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bill Wells,
John Lydon,
Metal Thangz,
Crash Course in Science,
Con Funk Shun,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Sonics,
Ultra Naté,
Schoolly D,
The Trojans,
Faust,
Boredoms,
Harmonia,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.