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 Laos and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the theremin 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 The Last Poets to the dance 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 Yellowson. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Panda Bear 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fat Boys,
Howard Jones,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Sam Rivers,
Amon Düül II,
Q65,
Crispy Ambulance,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Wire,
The Busters,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Warren Ellis,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bill Near,
Traffic Nightmare,
Outsiders,
Joensuu 1685,
The Last Poets,
Nico,
The Flesh Eaters,
Soul II Soul,
The Sound,
Prince Buster,
Barrington Levy,
D'Angelo,
The Dave Clark Five,
Harry Pussy,
Agitation Free,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Johnny Clarke,
Al Stewart,
Hot Snakes,
L. Decosne,
Silicon Teens,
Lucky Dragons,
Porter Ricks,
The Durutti Column,
Skaos,
Freddie Wadling,
Dark Day,
Black Sheep,
New York Dolls,
Heaven 17,
The Divine Comedy,
Kerri Chandler,
Hashim,
Stereo Dub,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Spoonie Gee,
Public Enemy,
Delta 5,
Morten Harket,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Cramps,
The Gap Band,
Graham Central Station,
Marcia Griffiths,
Neu!,
Joy Division,
Tom Boy,
Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48, Lower 48.
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.