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 South Sudan and from Woodstock.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Tropical Tobacco to the rock 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 Maleditus Sound. All the underground hits.
All Lucky Dragons tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terrestrial Tones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Depeche Mode,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Fire Engines,
Joyce Sims,
Con Funk Shun,
Heaven 17,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Johnny Clarke,
Radiohead,
Crispy Ambulance,
John Cale,
The Five Americans,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Siglo XX,
Trumans Water,
Mission of Burma,
David Bowie,
Yellowson,
Harpers Bizarre,
Wire,
Moby Grape,
The Velvet Underground,
Scratch Acid,
Pagans,
Subhumans,
Aural Exciters,
Blossom Toes,
Flamin' Groovies,
Surgeon,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Fortunes,
Loose Ends,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Circle Jerks,
Archie Shepp,
The Golliwogs,
Soft Cell,
Magma,
Stereo Dub,
Byron Stingily,
B.T. Express,
Max Romeo,
Pantytec,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Skriet,
Blancmange,
June of 44,
EPMD,
Lucky Dragons,
Symarip,
48th St. Collective,
Flash Fearless,
Colin Newman,
Masters at Work,
Marine Girls,
Smog,
Average White Band,
Schoolly D,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.