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 Turkmenistan 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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
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 The Fortunes to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All The Leaves tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blossom Toes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Young Rascals record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
Ituana,
China Crisis,
John Lydon,
Scientists,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Cramps,
Public Enemy,
Tres Demented,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Ice-T,
Sun Ra,
Harpers Bizarre,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sonics,
Visage,
D'Angelo,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Fania All-Stars,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
a-ha,
Jacob Miller,
Eve St. Jones,
Flash Fearless,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Detroit Cobras,
Con Funk Shun,
Joe Finger,
Delta 5,
Black Moon,
Main Source,
Moss Icon,
Jawbox,
Negative Approach,
Loose Ends,
Qualms,
The Smiths,
Eric Copeland,
Kurtis Blow,
Alice Coltrane,
OOIOO,
Eli Mardock,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Frankie Knuckles,
Aswad,
Junior Murvin,
Yusef Lateef,
The Young Rascals,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Thee Headcoats,
Fugazi,
Joensuu 1685,
U.S. Maple,
The Human League,
UT,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.