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 Kiribati and from Copenhagen.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Babytalk to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lungfish 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harry Pussy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
8 Eyed Spy,
Marshall Jefferson,
Sun Ra,
The Toasters,
Mo-Dettes,
Desert Stars,
The Golliwogs,
Isaac Hayes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ralphi Rosario,
Grandmaster Flash,
Babytalk,
FM Einheit,
Blossom Toes,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Fire Engines,
The Busters,
Popol Vuh,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
a-ha,
Bill Near,
Wally Richardson,
Suicide,
The American Breed,
Accadde A,
H. Thieme,
Graham Central Station,
Sonny Sharrock,
Electric Prunes,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Five Americans,
Youth Brigade,
Nirvana,
Gerry Rafferty,
New Order,
X-Ray Spex,
Erasure,
Alton Ellis,
Reuben Wilson,
Gang Starr,
MDC,
Flipper,
K-Klass,
Cluster,
Matthew Halsall,
Godley & Creme,
Joe Smooth,
Minutemen,
Magazine,
The Slits,
Simply Red,
The Names,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Henry Cow,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Harry Pussy,
Joy Division,
Marine Girls,
Prince Buster,
Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive, Hardrive.
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.