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 Portugal and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Nick Fraelich to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Piero Umiliani. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Todd Rundgren,
Jacques Brel,
Index,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Residents,
Theoretical Girls,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Pere Ubu,
Television Personalities,
Wings,
Gil Scott Heron,
Boredoms,
Swell Maps,
Bobby Womack,
June of 44,
Don Cherry,
Johnny Osbourne,
Amon Düül II,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Kayak,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Essential Logic,
The Modern Lovers,
Joe Finger,
Duran Duran,
Clear Light,
Bill Near,
Al Stewart,
Scion,
Spoonie Gee,
Sixth Finger,
Kerri Chandler,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Trojans,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Birthday Party,
Electric Prunes,
Erykah Badu,
Ossler,
Funky Four + One,
Pierre Henry,
Lucky Dragons,
Niagra,
The Moleskins,
Flipper,
Terrestrial Tones,
Maleditus Sound,
Little Man,
Malaria!,
Erasure,
Marshall Jefferson,
Grandmaster Flash,
Thompson Twins,
Warsaw,
The Kinks,
Agent Orange,
The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues, The Vogues.
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.