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 Rwanda and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Philadelphia.
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 sitar 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 The Monochrome Set to the grime 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 Jawbox. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ludus,
James White and The Blacks,
The Smoke,
The Raincoats,
The Motions,
Mission of Burma,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fela Kuti,
Henry Cow,
Cecil Taylor,
Motorama,
Bill Near,
EPMD,
Michelle Simonal,
Malaria!,
MC5,
Bobby Sherman,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Vainqueur,
Skriet,
Flamin' Groovies,
Parry Music,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Mo-Dettes,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Animal Collective,
The Martian,
Wire,
Agent Orange,
Maurizio,
The Knickerbockers,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sex Pistols,
Mark Hollis,
The Fugs,
Flash Fearless,
Fear,
Young Marble Giants,
Nas,
The Kinks,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Quadrant,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ultra Naté,
Derrick Morgan,
The Golliwogs,
Tubeway Army,
Suburban Knight,
Pantytec,
Lou Christie,
Hashim,
Organ,
Make Up,
Procol Harum,
The Blackbyrds,
The Birthday Party,
The Doors,
Cameo,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.