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 Azerbaijan and from Tehran.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Idris Muhammad to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Gian Franco Pienzio. All the underground hits.
All The Young Rascals tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Jeru the Damaja,
Robert Wyatt,
Skarface,
Harry Pussy,
Porter Ricks,
Minny Pops,
The Index,
U.S. Maple,
Vainqueur,
H. Thieme,
Little Man,
Peter and Kerry,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Blackbyrds,
Connie Case,
Barclay James Harvest,
These Immortal Souls,
Adolescents,
Negative Approach,
Fatback Band,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Suburban Knight,
Organ,
Hot Snakes,
The Fall,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Barry Ungar,
Wally Richardson,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Skaos,
The Gap Band,
Circle Jerks,
June Days,
The Neon Judgement,
Kayak,
Donald Byrd,
Black Bananas,
Ossler,
Susan Cadogan,
Sarah Menescal,
Public Image Ltd.,
Colin Newman,
Y Pants,
Saccharine Trust,
Bobby Womack,
Moby Grape,
The Alarm Clocks,
Neu!,
Josef K,
Soft Machine,
Yusef Lateef,
Joe Smooth,
Arab on Radar,
Janne Schatter,
Kurtis Blow,
Kaleidoscope,
The Motions,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
OOIOO,
Cluster,
Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl.
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.