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 Algeria and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Bremen.
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 arpeggiator 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 Slave to the rap 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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Malaria! 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donald Byrd record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pussy Galore,
Minor Threat,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Eric Dolphy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Kerri Chandler,
Silicon Teens,
Stiv Bators,
DJ Sneak,
Colin Newman,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Eric Copeland,
Soft Machine,
Soul Sonic Force,
Eric B and Rakim,
LL Cool J,
The Remains,
Deepchord,
Lalo Schifrin,
David McCallum,
Barbara Tucker,
FM Einheit,
Connie Case,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Niagra,
Urselle,
the Slits,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
John Coltrane,
Gastr Del Sol,
Tropical Tobacco,
Quando Quango,
Blancmange,
David Bowie,
Lyres,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Normal,
Rakim,
Mr. Review,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Electric Prunes,
Camberwell Now,
Theoretical Girls,
Fort Wilson Riot,
MDC,
Mad Mike,
Patti Smith,
the Human League,
Carl Craig,
The Fire Engines,
The Durutti Column,
Sam Rivers,
Glenn Branca,
Agent Orange,
Japan,
Sun City Girls,
Terrestrial Tones,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Marine Girls,
The Young Rascals,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.