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 Bulgaria and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Eric Dolphy to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All Sister Nancy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Young Marble Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
Leonard Cohen,
Roxy Music,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Erasure,
T.S.O.L.,
Motorama,
Neil Young,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Country Teasers,
Television Personalities,
Cymande,
Jeff Mills,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Wally Richardson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Cheater Slicks,
In Retrospect,
Derrick May,
the Germs,
Talk Talk,
Godley & Creme,
The Martian,
The Stooges,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
the Slits,
Gichy Dan,
Barrington Levy,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
DJ Style,
Eric B and Rakim,
Sex Pistols,
Second Layer,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fad Gadget,
Warsaw,
Harry Pussy,
The Five Americans,
Lalann,
John Coltrane,
Bush Tetras,
Mantronix,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ossler,
48th St. Collective,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Human League,
Das Ding,
The Slits,
Eden Ahbez,
Minnie Riperton,
Erykah Badu,
Soft Cell,
Robert Wyatt,
Lindisfarne,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Seeds,
KRS-One,
Drexciya,
Y Pants,
Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops, Minny Pops.
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.