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 Mozambique 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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Nico to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Dawn Penn tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Hutcherson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Evens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Frankie Knuckles,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Urselle,
Prince Buster,
cv313,
Pulsallama,
The Residents,
MC5,
Vainqueur,
The Divine Comedy,
The Victims,
Mission of Burma,
The Blues Magoos,
Television,
the Fania All-Stars,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Symarip,
The Gap Band,
Theoretical Girls,
Loose Ends,
Infiniti,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Anthony Braxton,
Boredoms,
The Litter,
Delon & Dalcan,
Iggy Pop,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Minor Threat,
Don Cherry,
Tears for Fears,
Jeff Mills,
Scratch Acid,
Cluster,
Ultra Naté,
Pere Ubu,
Index,
The Fugs,
Davy DMX,
John Foxx,
John Lydon,
Matthew Bourne,
Reagan Youth,
Silicon Teens,
Aaron Thompson,
Ohio Players,
Joy Division,
The Moody Blues,
The Seeds,
Minnie Riperton,
Skarface,
Goldenarms,
Sonny Sharrock,
Nirvana,
Scan 7,
the Soft Cell,
Terry Callier,
Subhumans,
DJ Sneak,
Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller, Jacob Miller.
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.