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 Equatorial Guinea and from Johannesburg.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Seeds to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Todd Terry. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Supertramp record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Judy Mowatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
World's Most,
Henry Cow,
Avey Tare,
The Stooges,
X-Ray Spex,
Eden Ahbez,
Hoover,
Jacques Brel,
Spoonie Gee,
Maurizio,
Yusef Lateef,
Rod Modell,
Donny Hathaway,
Electric Prunes,
Roy Ayers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
B.T. Express,
Fela Kuti,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Harmonia,
Don Cherry,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Birthday Party,
Pylon,
Mad Mike,
Pierre Henry,
Yazoo,
the Germs,
Leonard Cohen,
The Human League,
Blossom Toes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Robert Hood,
Tom Boy,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Sexual Harrassment,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Wake,
Soft Machine,
Unrelated Segments,
Arthur Verocai,
Bill Wells,
Minor Threat,
Jeru the Damaja,
Letta Mbulu,
Rapeman,
The Five Americans,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
cv313,
The Sonics,
Terry Callier,
The Vogues,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Glenn Branca,
Main Source,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Gichy Dan,
The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths, The Smiths.
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.