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 Australia and from Portland.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Peter & Gordon to the funk 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 Chris Corsano. All the underground hits.
All De La Soul & Jungle Brothers 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 funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gerry Rafferty,
Warsaw,
The Selecter,
Flipper,
Gabor Szabo,
JFA,
Ornette Coleman,
The Monochrome Set,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Be Bop Deluxe,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Minnie Riperton,
B.T. Express,
Bad Manners,
The Tremeloes,
Fatback Band,
Ultravox,
Alphaville,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Audionom,
X-101,
Nils Olav,
Sound Behaviour,
The Motions,
Susan Cadogan,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pagans,
Marc Almond,
Magazine,
Bob Dylan,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Marshall Jefferson,
X-Ray Spex,
Soul Sonic Force,
Donald Byrd,
The Dirtbombs,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Deakin,
Mars,
June of 44,
Harmonia,
The Walker Brothers,
Kas Product,
Crime,
Angry Samoans,
Delta 5,
Underground Resistance,
Scrapy,
Pierre Henry,
Curtis Mayfield,
Brass Construction,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Beau Brummels,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
DJ Sneak,
Dual Sessions,
Royal Trux,
Eve St. Jones,
the Sonics,
Sun Ra,
Tommy Roe,
Chrome, Chrome, Chrome, Chrome.
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.