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 Brazil and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Roxette. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Busters,
Radiopuhelimet,
the Swans,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Motions,
Boz Scaggs,
Avey Tare,
Pulsallama,
Tomorrow,
Traffic Nightmare,
These Immortal Souls,
Marshall Jefferson,
Delta 5,
Derrick May,
Theoretical Girls,
John Cale,
Judy Mowatt,
Quadrant,
Ten City,
Kurtis Blow,
Don Cherry,
L. Decosne,
The J.B.'s,
Q and Not U,
Altered Images,
Ronnie Foster,
The Smiths,
Susan Cadogan,
Public Image Ltd.,
Joe Smooth,
DNA,
Max Romeo,
Bronski Beat,
U.S. Maple,
Mad Mike,
Negative Approach,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Radio Birdman,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gabor Szabo,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Saccharine Trust,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
cv313,
D'Angelo,
Sister Nancy,
Swell Maps,
David Bowie,
Hot Snakes,
Camouflage,
Spandau Ballet,
Godley & Creme,
Technova,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Heaven 17,
Laurel Aitken,
The Fugs,
Toni Rubio,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.