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 Fiji and from Jakarta.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All Fugazi tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a David McCallum record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
Japan,
Heaven 17,
Rotary Connection,
Robert Wyatt,
Kerri Chandler,
Mr. Review,
Bobby Sherman,
The Shadows of Knight,
Yusef Lateef,
John Holt,
Peter & Gordon,
The Durutti Column,
La Düsseldorf,
Sarah Menescal,
Unwound,
Sam Rivers,
The Moody Blues,
Newcleus,
Lee Hazlewood,
Kayak,
Hardrive,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Easy Going,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Sonics,
Joe Finger,
Brothers Johnson,
Stereo Dub,
Circle Jerks,
Marmalade,
The New Christs,
Rod Modell,
Jerry's Kids,
The Gun Club,
Cecil Taylor,
Gabor Szabo,
Q and Not U,
Kerrie Biddell,
Jeff Lynne,
Blake Baxter,
Oblivians,
Inner City,
Davy DMX,
the Association,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Whodini,
Black Sheep,
Glambeats Corp.,
Moby Grape,
The Black Dice,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Searchers,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Aural Exciters,
Anthony Braxton,
Piero Umiliani,
Bill Wells,
The Associates,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Nick Fraelich,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Godley & Creme,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.