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 Burundi and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1987.
I was there at the first Nirvana show in Seattle.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 clarinet 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 Tubeway Army to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Gang Starr. All the underground hits.
All Pylon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Circle Jerks 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barrington Levy,
The Mummies,
The Smiths,
Duran Duran,
X-Ray Spex,
Rakim,
Gong,
Pantaleimon,
The Raincoats,
Eli Mardock,
Con Funk Shun,
The Cowsills,
Brothers Johnson,
Fela Kuti,
The Misunderstood,
Simply Red,
Tears for Fears,
Derrick May,
MC5,
John Foxx,
Soul II Soul,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Youth Brigade,
U.S. Maple,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Surgeon,
The Skatalites,
Model 500,
Spandau Ballet,
Mission of Burma,
The Martian,
KRS-One,
A Certain Ratio,
Cymande,
The Selecter,
Skriet,
Second Layer,
The Vogues,
Albert Ayler,
Johnny Clarke,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Public Enemy,
Sam Rivers,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gil Scott Heron,
Neil Young,
Mad Mike,
Procol Harum,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Matthew Halsall,
Chris Corsano,
Eve St. Jones,
Moby Grape,
Tommy Roe,
Wally Richardson,
Drexciya,
Moebius,
The Blues Magoos,
Jesper Dahlback,
Mark Hollis,
John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon.
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.