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 France and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the grunge 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 Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All China Crisis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Malaria! record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gerry Rafferty record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q and Not U,
Janne Schatter,
Andrew Hill,
Juan Atkins,
Moebius,
Electric Prunes,
The Gories,
Eurythmics,
Jeru the Damaja,
B.T. Express,
Ken Boothe,
Hot Snakes,
The Moleskins,
AZ,
Peter & Gordon,
Funky Four + One,
Crime,
Oblivians,
The Buckinghams,
Surgeon,
Average White Band,
Groovy Waters,
U.S. Maple,
Blake Baxter,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
ABBA,
The Slits,
Soft Cell,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Delta 5,
The Sonics,
the Slits,
The Angels of Light,
Barbara Tucker,
Avey Tare,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lyres,
Buzzcocks,
Morten Harket,
Deadbeat,
Malaria!,
The Toasters,
The Five Americans,
Silicon Teens,
KRS-One,
Laurel Aitken,
Rosa Yemen,
Pantaleimon,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Chrome,
Ultravox,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Blues Magoos,
Depeche Mode,
Bob Dylan,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sugar Minott,
Minnie Riperton,
The Durutti Column,
Bobby Byrd,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.