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 South Sudan and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 spring reverb 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 Lou Reed to the rap 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 Smog. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rapeman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a linndrum.
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,
Absolute Body Control,
Quando Quango,
Thompson Twins,
Accadde A,
Bluetip,
Boredoms,
Hasil Adkins,
Lalo Schifrin,
Crime,
Cheater Slicks,
Avey Tare,
Gang of Four,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Walker Brothers,
Barry Ungar,
Mandrill,
The Moleskins,
Jeff Lynne,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
David Bowie,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Supertramp,
Subhumans,
Joey Negro,
Joyce Sims,
Newcleus,
James White and The Blacks,
The J.B.'s,
Das Ding,
The Fuzztones,
The Raincoats,
Bronski Beat,
Saccharine Trust,
Arthur Verocai,
Surgeon,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Mark Hollis,
Roger Hodgson,
Wolf Eyes,
Nik Kershaw,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Count Five,
Young Marble Giants,
Sun City Girls,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
La Düsseldorf,
Godley & Creme,
Rhythm & Sound,
Hashim,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sällskapet,
Jacob Miller,
Terrestrial Tones,
Skarface,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kool Moe Dee,
Amon Düül,
The Durutti Column,
the Human League,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The American Breed, The American Breed, The American Breed, The American Breed.
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.