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 Ghana and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Girls At Our Best! record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Todd Rundgren record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Althea and Donna,
Black Sheep,
Yazoo,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Young Rascals,
JFA,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Boogie Down Productions,
Connie Case,
Todd Terry,
Urselle,
Shoche,
Bluetip,
Rufus Thomas,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Scientists,
Pylon,
Fatback Band,
Isaac Hayes,
Lou Christie,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Raincoats,
Marc Almond,
Big Daddy Kane,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Victims,
H. Thieme,
La Düsseldorf,
Reuben Wilson,
Sun Ra,
June Days,
Slick Rick,
Tomorrow,
The Slits,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eric Copeland,
The Gun Club,
Archie Shepp,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Zapp,
Kenny Larkin,
Leonard Cohen,
John Foxx,
The Monochrome Set,
Jeff Mills,
Soft Cell,
The Sonics,
Darondo,
Minor Threat,
the Sonics,
Cymande,
Eurythmics,
Bobby Byrd,
Visage,
Letta Mbulu,
Desert Stars,
Little Man,
The Cramps,
The Dead C,
Albert Ayler,
Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby, Dorothy Ashby.
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.