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 Algeria and from Edmonton.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Eric Dolphy to the crunk 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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 harpsichord and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
FM Einheit,
Cecil Taylor,
Yaz,
Kerri Chandler,
Arab on Radar,
Oblivians,
Heaven 17,
Byron Stingily,
The Neon Judgement,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Stooges,
David Bowie,
Ultravox,
Joe Finger,
Fear,
Infiniti,
The Kinks,
Clear Light,
Curtis Mayfield,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Pylon,
UT,
Johnny Clarke,
Nas,
Colin Newman,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Slackers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Pretty Things,
The Golliwogs,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Leaves,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
In Retrospect,
Circle Jerks,
Excepter,
Second Layer,
Hashim,
MC5,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Pulsallama,
Soft Machine,
Sun Ra,
Joy Division,
Tres Demented,
The Techniques,
Lindisfarne,
Reagan Youth,
Josef K,
Lightning Bolt,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Gang Starr,
Ken Boothe,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.