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 Mauritania and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 clarinet 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 Robert Görl to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Matthew Bourne. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül II tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonic Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quadrant record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
Don Cherry,
Monolake,
Mark Hollis,
the Slits,
Babytalk,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Pretty Things,
Alphaville,
kango's stein massive,
Shuggie Otis,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gong,
FM Einheit,
cv313,
Rhythm & Sound,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bill Wells,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Fugazi,
Scrapy,
The Invisible,
Sonny Sharrock,
Minutemen,
Jesper Dahlback,
Cameo,
Y Pants,
Peter and Kerry,
June Days,
Slave,
The American Breed,
The Golliwogs,
Unwound,
Thee Headcoats,
Animal Collective,
Todd Rundgren,
Youth Brigade,
LL Cool J,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Mission of Burma,
John Cale,
The Happenings,
Radiohead,
Niagra,
Pharoah Sanders,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Red Krayola,
Flash Fearless,
Throbbing Gristle,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Standells,
Liliput,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Quantec,
Sun Ra,
Piero Umiliani,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.