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 St Lucia and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 marimba 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 Whodini to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Amon Düül. All the underground hits.
All Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 güiro and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Half Japanese,
The Standells,
Youth Brigade,
Suicide,
Piero Umiliani,
Erykah Badu,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lightning Bolt,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sam Rivers,
Bobby Byrd,
ABBA,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Harry Pussy,
The Victims,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Vogues,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Aaron Thompson,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Crispy Ambulance,
Outsiders,
The Remains,
Junior Murvin,
Quantec,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Jandek,
Soul II Soul,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Associates,
Black Pus,
Cymande,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Eric Dolphy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Q65,
Moby Grape,
Malaria!,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Animal Collective,
Grey Daturas,
Kaleidoscope,
Minor Threat,
Alison Limerick,
the Bar-Kays,
Make Up,
Yusef Lateef,
Heaven 17,
Joe Smooth,
Hasil Adkins,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Scion,
Funkadelic,
The Star Department,
Liliput,
Duran Duran,
Lungfish,
Fad Gadget,
Moebius,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Unwound, Unwound, Unwound, Unwound.
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.