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 Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 Woodstock and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Bobby Sherman to the rap 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 Marshall Jefferson. All the underground hits.
All Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Procol Harum 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aaron Thompson,
Lou Christie,
Maurizio,
Ice-T,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Janne Schatter,
Excepter,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Cecil Taylor,
Gang Gang Dance,
Reuben Wilson,
Barry Ungar,
UT,
Stockholm Monsters,
Blancmange,
Niagra,
Massinfluence,
Fad Gadget,
The Sonics,
Ultravox,
The Cure,
The Electric Prunes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Arab on Radar,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Henry Cow,
Tommy Roe,
Mantronix,
Soulsonic Force,
Alphaville,
Sun Ra,
The Motions,
Cluster,
Main Source,
Al Stewart,
AZ,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Black Sheep,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Leaves,
Japan,
Jeff Mills,
Harmonia,
Can,
Jerry's Kids,
Model 500,
LL Cool J,
The Pop Group,
Amazonics,
Terrestrial Tones,
Unrelated Segments,
The Gap Band,
Gastr Del Sol,
Eden Ahbez,
Kenny Larkin,
Theoretical Girls,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Archie Shepp,
Agitation Free,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes, The Fortunes.
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.