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 St Lucia and from New York.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Madrid.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Essential Logic to the rap 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 the Human League. All the underground hits.
All Pulsallama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Young Rascals 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David Bowie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fad Gadget,
Alice Coltrane,
Negative Approach,
Rufus Thomas,
The Moleskins,
PIL,
June of 44,
Niagra,
Public Image Ltd.,
Sam Rivers,
Masters at Work,
Pole,
Fear,
The Smiths,
Steve Hackett,
The Real Kids,
Brothers Johnson,
The Raincoats,
Camberwell Now,
Erasure,
Qualms,
These Immortal Souls,
The Victims,
T.S.O.L.,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Martian,
Skarface,
Malaria!,
Alton Ellis,
DJ Style,
In Retrospect,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Second Layer,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Minnie Riperton,
Maurizio,
Derrick Morgan,
Amon Düül II,
The Motions,
Reuben Wilson,
Gang Starr,
Gabor Szabo,
Con Funk Shun,
The Neon Judgement,
Nick Fraelich,
Roy Ayers,
Prince Buster,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Fania All-Stars,
Section 25,
Blake Baxter,
Pantaleimon,
Half Japanese,
Letta Mbulu,
Little Man,
Brand Nubian,
Bill Wells,
Ultravox,
Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul, Soul II Soul.
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.