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 Sri Lanka and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 organ 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 Isaac Hayes to the disco 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 Arthur Verocai. All the underground hits.
All Monks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Red Lorry Yellow Lorry 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quantec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Vogues,
Moebius,
Jerry's Kids,
Outsiders,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kayak,
Eli Mardock,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Intrusion,
Gang Green,
Suburban Knight,
La Düsseldorf,
PIL,
ABC,
Brick,
The Count Five,
Wings,
Wally Richardson,
DNA,
Mantronix,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Piero Umiliani,
Howard Jones,
Easy Going,
Maurizio,
Lalo Schifrin,
Little Man,
Ludus,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Trojans,
Alphaville,
Faust,
The Birthday Party,
Roger Hodgson,
Junior Murvin,
DJ Sneak,
Graham Central Station,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Soul Sonic Force,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Busters,
Pharoah Sanders,
Crispian St. Peters,
Lucky Dragons,
Mandrill,
the Soft Cell,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minutemen,
the Sonics,
The Barracudas,
New York Dolls,
The Offenders,
Rites of Spring,
Gil Scott Heron,
Robert Görl,
Guru Guru,
Make Up, Make Up, Make Up, Make Up.
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.