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 Sweden and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pop Group to the rap 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Suburban Knight,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Soft Cell,
the Fania All-Stars,
Das Ding,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Dirtbombs,
Soul II Soul,
Crash Course in Science,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sex Pistols,
Kenny Larkin,
Can,
LL Cool J,
Iggy Pop,
The Happenings,
Pylon,
Rites of Spring,
Negative Approach,
Aural Exciters,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Cybotron,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Roger Hodgson,
The Skatalites,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Kinks,
World's Most,
Subhumans,
The Searchers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Sunsets and Hearts,
In Retrospect,
Marmalade,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bill Near,
Scratch Acid,
Gregory Isaacs,
Joey Negro,
Oblivians,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Toasters,
Rosa Yemen,
Donny Hathaway,
Severed Heads,
Eric B and Rakim,
R.M.O.,
Fatback Band,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kaleidoscope,
Excepter,
Cal Tjader,
The Mummies,
Dual Sessions,
Reagan Youth,
Barrington Levy,
Television,
Boogie Down Productions,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
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.