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 Papua New Guinea and from Lyon.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the marimba 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 The Toasters to the funk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Lyres. All the underground hits.
All Tom Boy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Men They Couldn't Hang record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 The Chocolate Watch Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Can,
The Standells,
Grauzone,
The Divine Comedy,
Kool Moe Dee,
the Slits,
Lower 48,
Steve Hackett,
Donald Byrd,
Eric Copeland,
Das Ding,
Maleditus Sound,
Kaleidoscope,
Television,
The Black Dice,
Jacob Miller,
Terrestrial Tones,
Todd Rundgren,
Motorama,
Todd Terry,
Ornette Coleman,
Hasil Adkins,
Groovy Waters,
Cameo,
Tommy Roe,
Patti Smith,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jandek,
John Cale,
Ten City,
The Fire Engines,
Fluxion,
Letta Mbulu,
Arab on Radar,
Agent Orange,
The Gun Club,
Archie Shepp,
Bobby Byrd,
Nils Olav,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ponytail,
Crispian St. Peters,
Rod Modell,
Inner City,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Malaria!,
Zapp,
Mission of Burma,
Barry Ungar,
Black Bananas,
Piero Umiliani,
Bang On A Can,
Slave,
Mo-Dettes,
Khruangbin,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rekid,
The Alarm Clocks,
Kevin Saunderson,
Camberwell Now,
The Grass Roots,
Bill Near,
Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz.
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.