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 Vietnam and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Beijing and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the oboe 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 Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All Pussy Galore tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sixth Finger record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lebanon Hanover,
the Soft Cell,
Television,
Joensuu 1685,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Glambeats Corp.,
Vainqueur,
Hoover,
The Selecter,
The Searchers,
Bill Wells,
Adolescents,
Yusef Lateef,
Rosa Yemen,
R.M.O.,
The Monks,
The Fortunes,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Ronan,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jeff Lynne,
The Cowsills,
Eric Copeland,
Black Sheep,
Neu!,
The Knickerbockers,
Panda Bear,
Lyres,
Ken Boothe,
Sixth Finger,
Metal Thangz,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Radio Birdman,
ABBA,
Make Up,
Wasted Youth,
Shuggie Otis,
Frankie Knuckles,
Vladislav Delay,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Robert Hood,
DJ Style,
Outsiders,
Grandmaster Flash,
Subhumans,
Au Pairs,
Sam Rivers,
Sugar Minott,
Freddie Wadling,
Half Japanese,
Jimmy McGriff,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pierre Henry,
Sparks,
Cymande,
Hot Snakes,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.