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 Haiti and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
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 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Rosa Yemen to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Eddi Front. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Stetsasonic record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Niagra,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bobby Womack,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ultimate Spinach,
PIL,
Electric Prunes,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Martian,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
LL Cool J,
Sandy B,
Fat Boys,
Thee Headcoats,
Jacob Miller,
Deakin,
Patti Smith,
DJ Sneak,
Al Stewart,
Ituana,
The Tremeloes,
Moebius,
Tommy Roe,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Techniques,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Anthony Braxton,
The Gun Club,
Lyres,
Matthew Halsall,
Can,
Idris Muhammad,
Clear Light,
Boz Scaggs,
Smog,
Cal Tjader,
Derrick Morgan,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Make Up,
Drexciya,
Television,
Gastr Del Sol,
Fifty Foot Hose,
John Holt,
Kevin Saunderson,
Royal Trux,
Simply Red,
Theoretical Girls,
James White and The Blacks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Flesh Eaters,
Arab on Radar,
Deepchord,
The Velvet Underground,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Swans,
Outsiders,
Archie Shepp,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.