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 China and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 Michael McDonald 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 cv313 to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Yellowson. All the underground hits.
All Ornette Coleman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smoke 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Barrington Levy,
The Motions,
Nirvana,
Television Personalities,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ultravox,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Gabor Szabo,
Reuben Wilson,
Harmonia,
Bill Near,
Pagans,
Avey Tare,
DJ Sneak,
Joy Division,
Dawn Penn,
Todd Rundgren,
Ronan,
The Divine Comedy,
Arab on Radar,
the Normal,
Eric B and Rakim,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Morten Harket,
Urselle,
The Last Poets,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Soft Cell,
PIL,
Brass Construction,
The Leaves,
Rosa Yemen,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Judy Mowatt,
Magma,
The Gladiators,
Japan,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Kinks,
KRS-One,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
X-Ray Spex,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Toni Rubio,
The Dead C,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Tremeloes,
Young Marble Giants,
Eddi Front,
The Names,
Gichy Dan,
Royal Trux,
Minnie Riperton,
Motorama,
Slick Rick,
Jeff Mills,
Mary Jane Girls,
Isaac Hayes,
Fear,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Evens,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.