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 Honduras and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 chamberlin 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 Soul Sonic Force to the techno 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 Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Hashim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Talk Talk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Groovy Waters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
Agent Orange,
Ralphi Rosario,
Lightning Bolt,
Motorama,
Gabor Szabo,
Altered Images,
Soft Machine,
John Holt,
Lalann,
The Buckinghams,
Bang On A Can,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Unrelated Segments,
Pet Shop Boys,
Suburban Knight,
Jandek,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Scientists,
The Skatalites,
Yellowson,
Black Bananas,
Matthew Halsall,
AZ,
Alice Coltrane,
Lalo Schifrin,
Whodini,
La Düsseldorf,
Ornette Coleman,
Quantec,
The Electric Prunes,
Joe Finger,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Monolake,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Harry Pussy,
The Count Five,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Kaleidoscope,
Banda Bassotti,
Harmonia,
Girls At Our Best!,
Reuben Wilson,
Howard Jones,
Glambeats Corp.,
Robert Wyatt,
Quando Quango,
Marine Girls,
The Blues Magoos,
The Stooges,
JFA,
Derrick May,
Neu!,
The Music Machine,
Index,
Eddi Front,
Lakeside,
KRS-One,
Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani, Piero Umiliani.
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.