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 Guinea-Bissau and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 Tehran and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Shuggie Otis to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Outsiders. All the underground hits.
All Gang of Four tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Goldenarms record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fortunes,
Delta 5,
Rekid,
Parry Music,
La Düsseldorf,
Brand Nubian,
Boredoms,
Joe Finger,
Bill Wells,
AZ,
Infiniti,
Tres Demented,
Ituana,
The Detroit Cobras,
Bobby Sherman,
the Germs,
Jandek,
David Axelrod,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Radio Birdman,
Liliput,
Cal Tjader,
Sonic Youth,
Lebanon Hanover,
Brass Construction,
the Slits,
Gong,
The Monochrome Set,
Marcia Griffiths,
B.T. Express,
Sarah Menescal,
UT,
KRS-One,
Jeff Mills,
The Grass Roots,
Minny Pops,
Henry Cow,
Barclay James Harvest,
One Last Wish,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Human League,
Patti Smith,
Unwound,
Bluetip,
Joe Smooth,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Fire Engines,
Gerry Rafferty,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Das Ding,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Ludus,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Invisible,
Babytalk,
The United States of America,
June of 44,
This Heat,
Derrick May,
Marine Girls,
Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive.
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.