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 Burundi and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 marimba 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 Barclay James Harvest to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 MDC. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Manfred Mann's Earth Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive 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?
Lungfish,
Joensuu 1685,
Amazonics,
Excepter,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Moss Icon,
Patti Smith,
The Flesh Eaters,
Minutemen,
Symarip,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Doors,
Yellowson,
Blossom Toes,
The Victims,
Jacob Miller,
Niagra,
Amon Düül,
Scott Walker,
Janne Schatter,
Monks,
Todd Terry,
the Soft Cell,
The Gladiators,
Ultra Naté,
The Kinks,
Marcia Griffiths,
Pere Ubu,
Roger Hodgson,
L. Decosne,
Chris Corsano,
The Fire Engines,
Bill Near,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Robert Hood,
DNA,
Yaz,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Spandau Ballet,
Peter and Kerry,
Arthur Verocai,
La Düsseldorf,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Youth Brigade,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Last Poets,
Trumans Water,
Young Marble Giants,
The Cramps,
Skarface,
Jerry's Kids,
Eurythmics,
Depeche Mode,
Camouflage,
U.S. Maple,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Flash Fearless,
the Slits,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail, Ponytail.
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.