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 Zimbabwe and from Salvador.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 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 Patti Smith to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Mandrill. All the underground hits.
All Jesper Dahlback tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Excepter 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 a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Television record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Technova,
The Slits,
Rakim,
Donald Byrd,
Terry Callier,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Boogie Down Productions,
X-102,
The Walker Brothers,
Scientists,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bronski Beat,
The Dirtbombs,
Mission of Burma,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gang Gang Dance,
Shuggie Otis,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Invisible,
Chris Corsano,
Tropical Tobacco,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Al Stewart,
Skriet,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Gories,
Rapeman,
Audionom,
Todd Rundgren,
The Slackers,
New Order,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
China Crisis,
Anthony Braxton,
Kaleidoscope,
Q65,
X-101,
Dorothy Ashby,
Jesper Dahlback,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Electric Prunes,
Minutemen,
Brass Construction,
The Dead C,
the Slits,
The American Breed,
Jacob Miller,
Quadrant,
Pulsallama,
Patti Smith,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Surgeon,
Jandek,
Neil Young,
Joy Division,
Quantec,
Clear Light,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.