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 San Marino and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 harpsichord 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 the Soft Cell to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Minutemen. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 a linndrum and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Doobie Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Icehouse,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Saints,
The Doors,
Shuggie Otis,
DJ Style,
Lakeside,
The Beau Brummels,
Dave Gahan,
Parry Music,
Ultra Naté,
Essential Logic,
Pagans,
Liliput,
48th St. Collective,
the Swans,
Oblivians,
Morten Harket,
Flamin' Groovies,
ABC,
The Blackbyrds,
Monks,
The Star Department,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
H. Thieme,
Arab on Radar,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ken Boothe,
The Kinks,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Shadows of Knight,
Cal Tjader,
Harpers Bizarre,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Juan Atkins,
Altered Images,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Junior Murvin,
The Gladiators,
Thee Headcoats,
Gil Scott Heron,
Quadrant,
Glenn Branca,
Public Enemy,
Sugar Minott,
Kevin Saunderson,
cv313,
The Martian,
Crooked Eye,
Godley & Creme,
Minor Threat,
Tomorrow,
Magma,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Hashim,
T.S.O.L.,
Joe Smooth,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Smiths,
Agent Orange,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Qualms,
The Standells, The Standells, The Standells, The Standells.
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.