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 Zambia and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lindisfarne to the punk 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 The Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Isaac Hayes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eric Copeland 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sixth Finger record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Hashim,
Organ,
Jesper Dahlback,
Fela Kuti,
Bang On A Can,
The Blues Magoos,
Stereo Dub,
Siglo XX,
Easy Going,
Silicon Teens,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Absolute Body Control,
T. Rex,
Little Man,
The Young Rascals,
Danielle Patucci,
Vainqueur,
Amazonics,
The Moleskins,
Gregory Isaacs,
Piero Umiliani,
Gang Starr,
Subhumans,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ponytail,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Bobby Womack,
Wally Richardson,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Quando Quango,
Qualms,
Aaron Thompson,
Boz Scaggs,
Wire,
Banda Bassotti,
The Doobie Brothers,
Michelle Simonal,
the Bar-Kays,
Magazine,
Dave Gahan,
Lou Christie,
AZ,
Joensuu 1685,
The Invisible,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Agent Orange,
Aloha Tigers,
The Monks,
10cc,
Von Mondo,
Barclay James Harvest,
Alice Coltrane,
Brand Nubian,
Max Romeo,
Panda Bear,
Cal Tjader,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Rufus Thomas,
MDC,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
FM Einheit,
Henry Cow,
The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood, The Misunderstood.
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.