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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Portland.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 rhodes 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 Barry Ungar to the rock 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 Ituana. All the underground hits.
All Public Enemy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pole record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
The Slits,
Surgeon,
Bobby Byrd,
Basic Channel,
The Doors,
Popol Vuh,
The Martian,
Qualms,
Warren Ellis,
Minor Threat,
The Moody Blues,
Kerri Chandler,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Franke,
Warsaw,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Dual Sessions,
The Music Machine,
Rhythm & Sound,
Colin Newman,
Von Mondo,
Marcia Griffiths,
Japan,
Judy Mowatt,
Gil Scott Heron,
Little Man,
Lalo Schifrin,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Vogues,
Nico,
Lightning Bolt,
Procol Harum,
Suicide,
David McCallum,
The Blues Magoos,
The Fuzztones,
Dawn Penn,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Happenings,
The Birthday Party,
Rekid,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Aural Exciters,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
10cc,
Danielle Patucci,
Soul Sonic Force,
Scion,
Susan Cadogan,
Subhumans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
8 Eyed Spy,
Stetsasonic,
Flipper,
Glambeats Corp.,
Stereo Dub,
Donny Hathaway,
John Coltrane,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Thompson Twins,
Tomorrow,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.