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 Ethiopia and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Traffic Nightmare to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 The Fugs. All the underground hits.
All Boz Scaggs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cameo 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Saccharine Trust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funkadelic,
Arcadia,
Minor Threat,
Maurizio,
Neu!,
Angry Samoans,
Slave,
The Divine Comedy,
Los Fastidios,
Peter and Kerry,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Birthday Party,
Radiohead,
The Toasters,
Unrelated Segments,
Parry Music,
The Trojans,
Newcleus,
New Age Steppers,
Easy Going,
Chris & Cosey,
Connie Case,
Johnny Clarke,
The Offenders,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Music Machine,
Ohio Players,
Nik Kershaw,
The Modern Lovers,
The Gladiators,
Malaria!,
Yusef Lateef,
Soul Sonic Force,
Fatback Band,
The Happenings,
John Lydon,
Lalo Schifrin,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Derrick May,
The Cowsills,
Hardrive,
Brass Construction,
The Count Five,
Darondo,
Jeff Lynne,
Excepter,
Erasure,
Graham Central Station,
Sam Rivers,
Eurythmics,
Lakeside,
F. McDonald,
Cal Tjader,
Junior Murvin,
Symarip,
Public Image Ltd.,
Blake Baxter,
The Slits,
Franke,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Reuben Wilson,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.