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 Burundi and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 clarinet 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 Electric Light Orchestra to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Franke. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Half Japanese record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wolf Eyes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flipper,
Rites of Spring,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Josef K,
Rotary Connection,
Quando Quango,
Funky Four + One,
The Gap Band,
Rapeman,
Eden Ahbez,
Joyce Sims,
Toni Rubio,
Robert Hood,
Surgeon,
Nik Kershaw,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Sonics,
Anthony Braxton,
Rufus Thomas,
Girls At Our Best!,
Camouflage,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Black Dice,
Animal Collective,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Lower 48,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Hasil Adkins,
Jandek,
Lalo Schifrin,
Eric B and Rakim,
Funkadelic,
Juan Atkins,
The Blues Magoos,
Q and Not U,
The Five Americans,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Litter,
Depeche Mode,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Electric Prunes,
Susan Cadogan,
Sarah Menescal,
The Toasters,
The Blackbyrds,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Divine Comedy,
Aloha Tigers,
La Düsseldorf,
Organ,
Pantaleimon,
Second Layer,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Doobie Brothers,
ABC,
Los Fastidios,
Sun Ra,
Radiohead,
Massinfluence,
June of 44,
Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas.
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.