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 Sierra Leone and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 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 Bill Near to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Agitation Free. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alton Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a These Immortal Souls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Moss Icon,
Pagans,
Qualms,
the Germs,
Maleditus Sound,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bootsy Collins,
The Doobie Brothers,
Rakim,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Frankie Knuckles,
Isaac Hayes,
Gregory Isaacs,
X-Ray Spex,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Parry Music,
DJ Sneak,
The Motions,
Massinfluence,
Lightning Bolt,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Bill Wells,
The Saints,
Metal Thangz,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
AZ,
Theoretical Girls,
Brothers Johnson,
L. Decosne,
Gang Green,
Bad Manners,
Jeff Lynne,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Shoche,
Rites of Spring,
New York Dolls,
Fat Boys,
Reuben Wilson,
Soul II Soul,
In Retrospect,
Derrick May,
Spandau Ballet,
EPMD,
Yaz,
Q65,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ice-T,
Josef K,
Deakin,
the Normal,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Curtis Mayfield,
Gang of Four,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Smiths,
the Bar-Kays,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Alton Ellis,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.