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 Chad and from Jakarta.
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 Houston and Edmonton.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Animal Collective to the dance kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Soft Cell. All the underground hits.
All Lyres tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every World's Most 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 an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Near,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Whodini,
EPMD,
Archie Shepp,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
X-Ray Spex,
Hot Snakes,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Fat Boys,
The Birthday Party,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
June of 44,
Oneida,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Spoonie Gee,
Tommy Roe,
Bluetip,
The Selecter,
Barclay James Harvest,
Joey Negro,
Arthur Verocai,
Crispy Ambulance,
Rapeman,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kerri Chandler,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Piero Umiliani,
Swell Maps,
Big Daddy Kane,
Accadde A,
Pulsallama,
World's Most,
Tres Demented,
Skaos,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Brass Construction,
Mantronix,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Raincoats,
Flash Fearless,
Lalann,
The Sound,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Barry Ungar,
Chris & Cosey,
CMW,
The Gladiators,
Eve St. Jones,
Mark Hollis,
Duran Duran,
Alphaville,
Cymande,
Reuben Wilson,
the Slits,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Theoretical Girls,
Rod Modell,
Suicide,
Gerry Rafferty,
Todd Rundgren, Todd Rundgren, Todd Rundgren, Todd Rundgren.
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.