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 Tajikistan and from Milan.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Interpol to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All The Pretty Things tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every June Days 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Velvet Underground,
The Trojans,
Severed Heads,
Jawbox,
The Misunderstood,
B.T. Express,
Talk Talk,
Harmonia,
Ultravox,
Grey Daturas,
Howard Jones,
Robert Hood,
Skriet,
Thee Headcoats,
The Fire Engines,
Cameo,
Symarip,
The Monochrome Set,
The Detroit Cobras,
MDC,
Judy Mowatt,
Yusef Lateef,
Japan,
Q and Not U,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
H. Thieme,
Colin Newman,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Duran Duran,
Zapp,
Harry Pussy,
Banda Bassotti,
Wire,
Accadde A,
The Knickerbockers,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fatback Band,
Skaos,
The Last Poets,
Surgeon,
Maurizio,
Newcleus,
Brothers Johnson,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Make Up,
Eve St. Jones,
The Invisible,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Niagra,
Agitation Free,
Sex Pistols,
Jeru the Damaja,
Black Sheep,
Warsaw,
the Soft Cell,
Erykah Badu,
Popol Vuh,
the Swans,
Average White Band,
The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds, The Seeds.
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.