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 Taiwan and from Lille.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 spring reverb 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 Hardrive to the grunge 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 Model 500. All the underground hits.
All Bluetip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ultravox record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Section 25 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Amazonics,
Clear Light,
The Names,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Neon Judgement,
Dorothy Ashby,
Lyres,
Sugar Minott,
Deadbeat,
Model 500,
L. Decosne,
Joe Finger,
Unwound,
Warsaw,
the Sonics,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Sun City Girls,
The Knickerbockers,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Cameo,
The Happenings,
Wolf Eyes,
Index,
The Gladiators,
The Count Five,
The Moody Blues,
Aaron Thompson,
Lou Christie,
The Birthday Party,
MDC,
Mandrill,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lalann,
The Invisible,
Cal Tjader,
8 Eyed Spy,
Peter and Kerry,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Connie Case,
Warren Ellis,
T.S.O.L.,
Easy Going,
Kaleidoscope,
Eve St. Jones,
Letta Mbulu,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Deepchord,
Echospace,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Thee Headcoats,
The Gun Club,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Terry Callier,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Red Krayola,
Gastr Del Sol,
F. McDonald,
The Shadows of Knight,
Radiopuhelimet,
Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu, Pere Ubu.
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.