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 Malta and from Shanghai.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 New York Dolls to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every FM Einheit 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a ABBA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slick Rick,
Symarip,
Index,
The Music Machine,
Average White Band,
Ituana,
Barbara Tucker,
Alice Coltrane,
Derrick Morgan,
The Victims,
Newcleus,
48th St. Collective,
Visage,
Letta Mbulu,
Monolake,
Mr. Review,
The Standells,
Avey Tare,
Byron Stingily,
Sister Nancy,
Tom Boy,
Mission of Burma,
Skaos,
Scan 7,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Mummies,
Jawbox,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Oneida,
Bang On A Can,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Alarm Clocks,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Mojo Men,
Ponytail,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Alphaville,
Magma,
The Dead C,
cv313,
The Slits,
The Wake,
David Axelrod,
Erykah Badu,
Unrelated Segments,
Marvin Gaye,
Y Pants,
Ultravox,
Wasted Youth,
Blancmange,
Lindisfarne,
Black Flag,
Alton Ellis,
Jerry Gold Smith,
FM Einheit,
The Motions,
Peter & Gordon,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Germs,
Shuggie Otis,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.