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 St Kitts & Nevis and from London.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Swell Maps 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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Brick,
Zero Boys,
Moss Icon,
Gang Gang Dance,
New Order,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Erasure,
Bill Near,
The Searchers,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Ronnie Foster,
Black Pus,
Ornette Coleman,
The Shadows of Knight,
Agitation Free,
Scrapy,
The Last Poets,
Rapeman,
Stockholm Monsters,
Agent Orange,
The Slackers,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Blackbyrds,
Connie Case,
Josef K,
Nik Kershaw,
Mandrill,
Pantytec,
Roxette,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Skatalites,
cv313,
Pantaleimon,
Deepchord,
Jawbox,
Second Layer,
The Fugs,
Grauzone,
New Age Steppers,
Robert Hood,
Stereo Dub,
R.M.O.,
Tom Boy,
E-Dancer,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Lalo Schifrin,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Shuggie Otis,
Laurel Aitken,
Gang of Four,
Dark Day,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Walker Brothers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kenny Larkin,
Hoover,
Tears for Fears,
Jimmy McGriff,
Quando Quango,
Terry Callier,
ABBA, ABBA, ABBA, ABBA.
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.