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 Jamaica and from Milan.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Barbara Tucker to the electroclash 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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All Skaos tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Porter Ricks 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 theremin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fugazi,
Lower 48,
Bronski Beat,
Quando Quango,
The Smoke,
Terry Callier,
Kayak,
The Barracudas,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
FM Einheit,
Duran Duran,
The Monochrome Set,
Minny Pops,
Goldenarms,
John Lydon,
E-Dancer,
Oneida,
The Velvet Underground,
Maurizio,
Ultra Naté,
The Happenings,
Lungfish,
Pantaleimon,
Gabor Szabo,
Gang Gang Dance,
the Soft Cell,
Mantronix,
Rufus Thomas,
Patti Smith,
The Music Machine,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Man Eating Sloth,
Porter Ricks,
Roger Hodgson,
Roxette,
The J.B.'s,
New Order,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Monks,
the Slits,
Excepter,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joensuu 1685,
Marine Girls,
Adolescents,
Monolake,
Aaron Thompson,
The Mojo Men,
Barbara Tucker,
Faust,
Archie Shepp,
the Sonics,
Lebanon Hanover,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Ituana,
Rosa Yemen,
Newcleus,
Johnny Clarke,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.