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 Lesotho and from Seoul.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Houston.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Jeff Mills to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Thee Headcoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Gladiators,
Panda Bear,
The Seeds,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Slackers,
Funkadelic,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Unrelated Segments,
Marmalade,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Blackbyrds,
the Swans,
The Toasters,
Thee Headcoats,
Interpol,
Heaven 17,
Jerry's Kids,
Leonard Cohen,
Eve St. Jones,
The Tremeloes,
Skriet,
Country Teasers,
Model 500,
The Selecter,
the Slits,
Charles Mingus,
Throbbing Gristle,
Prince Buster,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Alphaville,
Dual Sessions,
Joyce Sims,
Shuggie Otis,
AZ,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Crispian St. Peters,
David Bowie,
Pere Ubu,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Zero Boys,
Hashim,
Ultimate Spinach,
Agitation Free,
Loose Ends,
Spandau Ballet,
Jacob Miller,
The Wake,
Nirvana,
Liliput,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Doobie Brothers,
Pylon,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Smiths,
Swans,
ABC,
The Young Rascals,
Flash Fearless,
Mandrill,
The Martian,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Star Department,
Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk, Babytalk.
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.