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 Papua New Guinea and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Sly & The Family Stone to the electroclash 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 The American Breed. All the underground hits.
All Chrome tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kevin Saunderson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
T. Rex,
The Gap Band,
June of 44,
Janne Schatter,
Alphaville,
Terrestrial Tones,
Qualms,
Rhythm & Sound,
Soft Cell,
Silicon Teens,
Aural Exciters,
The Standells,
Glambeats Corp.,
Max Romeo,
Buzzcocks,
Khruangbin,
Public Enemy,
Mr. Review,
New York Dolls,
The Gun Club,
The Trojans,
Whodini,
Alton Ellis,
Tears for Fears,
Patti Smith,
Bauhaus,
Fugazi,
the Bar-Kays,
DJ Sneak,
Prince Buster,
Quando Quango,
The Durutti Column,
The Names,
Scrapy,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Cure,
The Five Americans,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Offenders,
Ossler,
Hashim,
Joyce Sims,
Unwound,
Skarface,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Spandau Ballet,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
R.M.O.,
Absolute Body Control,
Crispian St. Peters,
Negative Approach,
Derrick May,
Mad Mike,
Wings,
Susan Cadogan,
Tim Buckley,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Chris Corsano,
The Invisible,
Smog, Smog, Smog, Smog.
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.