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 Palau and from Portland.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Red Krayola to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Sparks. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
The Evens,
Bizarre Inc.,
Grandmaster Flash,
Darondo,
Arcadia,
Sällskapet,
Boogie Down Productions,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Arab on Radar,
Soul II Soul,
Rapeman,
Animal Collective,
Newcleus,
Wire,
Fugazi,
a-ha,
Gregory Isaacs,
New Age Steppers,
Rites of Spring,
Curtis Mayfield,
U.S. Maple,
Suburban Knight,
Bronski Beat,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Silicon Teens,
Sarah Menescal,
The Skatalites,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Peter and Kerry,
Sun City Girls,
Mars,
The Busters,
The Walker Brothers,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sun Ra,
Accadde A,
Gang Gang Dance,
L. Decosne,
Von Mondo,
Deakin,
Graham Central Station,
The Happenings,
Half Japanese,
China Crisis,
Soulsonic Force,
Absolute Body Control,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cluster,
Shoche,
Isaac Hayes,
Young Marble Giants,
FM Einheit,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Soft Cell,
Procol Harum,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Nik Kershaw,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Sound,
Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel, Basic Channel.
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.