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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 John Coltrane to the dance 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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yaz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro 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 clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sight & Sound,
Sandy B,
Erykah Badu,
Max Romeo,
Joe Smooth,
Reuben Wilson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Jeff Lynne,
David Axelrod,
Black Flag,
David McCallum,
The Blackbyrds,
Marine Girls,
Buzzcocks,
Clear Light,
10cc,
The Five Americans,
Quantec,
World's Most,
Jeff Mills,
Matthew Halsall,
The Stooges,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Althea and Donna,
One Last Wish,
Soul II Soul,
Camouflage,
Pagans,
Shoche,
Soft Cell,
the Human League,
Stereo Dub,
Simply Red,
Cluster,
Black Sheep,
A Certain Ratio,
Brass Construction,
Deakin,
Slick Rick,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bill Wells,
Siglo XX,
Ludus,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Gang Gang Dance,
Quadrant,
The Mighty Diamonds,
John Coltrane,
John Holt,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Techniques,
Suicide,
the Association,
The Electric Prunes,
Kayak,
Wally Richardson,
Dead Boys,
Aural Exciters,
X-Ray Spex,
Danielle Patucci,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.