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 Nigeria and from Manila.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Saccharine Trust to the rock 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All Crash Course in Science tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Human League record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Star Department 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?
Shuggie Otis,
The Tremeloes,
Outsiders,
Sonic Youth,
Jacob Miller,
Mark Hollis,
Monolake,
The Star Department,
Laurel Aitken,
Interpol,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Robert Wyatt,
Boogie Down Productions,
Mantronix,
The Trojans,
Youth Brigade,
The Walker Brothers,
Scratch Acid,
Glenn Branca,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Arthur Verocai,
Ludus,
Radiohead,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bizarre Inc.,
Archie Shepp,
Eli Mardock,
The Black Dice,
John Holt,
48th St. Collective,
Ohio Players,
Babytalk,
The Fall,
Jeff Mills,
Flash Fearless,
The Velvet Underground,
Piero Umiliani,
Pole,
Liliput,
The Fuzztones,
Spandau Ballet,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
U.S. Maple,
Hardrive,
Audionom,
Colin Newman,
the Soft Cell,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Susan Cadogan,
the Association,
Visage,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Excepter,
Grauzone,
Faraquet,
Charles Mingus,
The Toasters,
Yusef Lateef,
L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne.
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.