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 Croatia and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Glasgow.
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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the oboe 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 The Slits to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All Delta 5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cowsills 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Saints record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bluetip,
Japan,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bobby Sherman,
Crispian St. Peters,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Alton Ellis,
The Move,
The Wake,
The Cramps,
Scratch Acid,
Sandy B,
Robert Wyatt,
Rotary Connection,
Interpol,
Groovy Waters,
Ten City,
Dorothy Ashby,
New York Dolls,
The Birthday Party,
Nik Kershaw,
X-101,
The Evens,
Eric B and Rakim,
Subhumans,
Ken Boothe,
Soulsonic Force,
The Grass Roots,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rufus Thomas,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Harry Pussy,
Eric Dolphy,
Marcia Griffiths,
Barrington Levy,
The United States of America,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Anthony Braxton,
Yaz,
Susan Cadogan,
Roy Ayers,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Young Rascals,
Sun City Girls,
Eurythmics,
Animal Collective,
Harmonia,
Funkadelic,
Prince Buster,
Q65,
Nirvana,
Curtis Mayfield,
K-Klass,
Swell Maps,
Theoretical Girls,
The Searchers,
Skarface,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Heaven 17,
Wings,
DNA,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.