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 Senegal and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 spring reverb 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 Essential Logic to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Avey Tare. All the underground hits.
All Little Man tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Divine Comedy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Victims,
The Durutti Column,
Pylon,
Easy Going,
Agitation Free,
The Associates,
Funky Four + One,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Alphaville,
Spandau Ballet,
Joe Finger,
Sex Pistols,
The Residents,
X-101,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Marcia Griffiths,
Tropical Tobacco,
Charles Mingus,
Stereo Dub,
Grandmaster Flash,
A Certain Ratio,
The Black Dice,
Sarah Menescal,
The Names,
Rotary Connection,
John Coltrane,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
These Immortal Souls,
Bobby Womack,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
T. Rex,
Liliput,
Bobby Byrd,
Nirvana,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Khruangbin,
Lou Christie,
Kurtis Blow,
Eric Dolphy,
Subhumans,
Harpers Bizarre,
Brothers Johnson,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Raincoats,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Letta Mbulu,
Drexciya,
Inner City,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Anthony Braxton,
Public Image Ltd.,
Electric Light Orchestra,
In Retrospect,
The Monks,
Fluxion,
Big Daddy Kane,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jimmy McGriff,
Reuben Wilson,
Nils Olav,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.