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 Taiwan and from Accra.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Brass Construction 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 Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bootsy Collins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joyce Sims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Lucky Dragons,
Brass Construction,
Scientists,
Can,
Blossom Toes,
Jimmy McGriff,
Terrestrial Tones,
Aswad,
The Divine Comedy,
Alphaville,
Flash Fearless,
Section 25,
Spandau Ballet,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Deepchord,
Erasure,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Joensuu 1685,
Gang Starr,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Public Image Ltd.,
Khruangbin,
Sight & Sound,
Minor Threat,
The Techniques,
Television Personalities,
Yellowson,
DJ Sneak,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Country Teasers,
Electric Light Orchestra,
John Holt,
Technova,
Archie Shepp,
The Sonics,
Pantaleimon,
the Slits,
the Soft Cell,
H. Thieme,
the Normal,
The Doobie Brothers,
Scott Walker,
New York Dolls,
Animal Collective,
Main Source,
Absolute Body Control,
Simply Red,
Fad Gadget,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Pretty Things,
Eurythmics,
The Misunderstood,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Blancmange,
Gichy Dan,
T. Rex,
One Last Wish,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Underground Resistance,
E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer, E-Dancer.
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.