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 Philippines and from Beijing.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Philadelphia.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Kinks to the techno kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All Echospace tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Men They Couldn't Hang 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Selecter,
Pagans,
Gichy Dan,
The Beau Brummels,
Fatback Band,
Mandrill,
Soulsonic Force,
Grey Daturas,
Zero Boys,
Terry Callier,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Drexciya,
Jerry's Kids,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The J.B.'s,
Essential Logic,
PIL,
Sun Ra,
Section 25,
John Holt,
Fad Gadget,
The Motions,
Cluster,
the Bar-Kays,
Frankie Knuckles,
LL Cool J,
T. Rex,
Eden Ahbez,
Barbara Tucker,
Kurtis Blow,
The Barracudas,
Blake Baxter,
The New Christs,
Amon Düül II,
Siglo XX,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Clear Light,
Bush Tetras,
Blancmange,
Avey Tare,
Peter and Kerry,
Wings,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Grass Roots,
OOIOO,
Fela Kuti,
Soft Machine,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
La Düsseldorf,
Ultravox,
Ten City,
T.S.O.L.,
Popol Vuh,
ABBA,
Peter & Gordon,
Grauzone,
Brass Construction,
The Buckinghams,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey.
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.