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 Sri Lanka and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the güiro 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 E-Dancer to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Lalo Schifrin. All the underground hits.
All Porter Ricks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Trumans Water record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wings,
Faraquet,
The Kinks,
Eden Ahbez,
Sam Rivers,
Sound Behaviour,
Stereo Dub,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Deepchord,
John Coltrane,
Gang Gang Dance,
James White and The Blacks,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Barry Ungar,
Sandy B,
Piero Umiliani,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Moebius,
Underground Resistance,
The Happenings,
Frankie Knuckles,
Rufus Thomas,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Electric Prunes,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Blackbyrds,
Fat Boys,
It's A Beautiful Day,
ABBA,
Marshall Jefferson,
Flipper,
L. Decosne,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Black Sheep,
Drive Like Jehu,
Visage,
Drexciya,
T. Rex,
Masters at Work,
Pet Shop Boys,
Symarip,
Sixth Finger,
In Retrospect,
The Alarm Clocks,
Joensuu 1685,
Loose Ends,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Wire,
the Slits,
Al Stewart,
Kayak,
Skaos,
Khruangbin,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Soul Sonic Force,
X-101,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.