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 Philadelphia.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 spring reverb 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 D'Angelo to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Yaz. All the underground hits.
All Underground Resistance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gun Club 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & John Cale record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
Alton Ellis,
Japan,
Lyres,
ABBA,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nico,
cv313,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Durutti Column,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Electric Prunes,
Altered Images,
Skaos,
The Cramps,
FM Einheit,
the Sonics,
Letta Mbulu,
Pantytec,
Chris & Cosey,
Agent Orange,
Isaac Hayes,
The Sound,
La Düsseldorf,
T. Rex,
Wally Richardson,
Newcleus,
In Retrospect,
Man Eating Sloth,
Panda Bear,
Marc Almond,
Lalo Schifrin,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Motorama,
Terrestrial Tones,
Scan 7,
Franke,
Khruangbin,
The Modern Lovers,
The Buckinghams,
The Standells,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Magazine,
Radio Birdman,
Yaz,
The Mojo Men,
The Star Department,
Groovy Waters,
Electric Prunes,
The Residents,
Wire,
Maleditus Sound,
Parry Music,
Sexual Harrassment,
Pantaleimon,
Delta 5,
Todd Rundgren,
Oblivians,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kerri Chandler,
Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez.
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.