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 Algeria and from Johannesburg.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 snare 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 Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam to the techno 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 the Bar-Kays. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti 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 spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Saccharine Trust,
Scientists,
Unwound,
One Last Wish,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Moleskins,
The Blues Magoos,
Amon Düül,
Television Personalities,
Derrick Morgan,
Cybotron,
Gang Gang Dance,
Arcadia,
Stockholm Monsters,
Warsaw,
Boogie Down Productions,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Jeff Lynne,
Interpol,
Severed Heads,
Lucky Dragons,
Kool Moe Dee,
F. McDonald,
Banda Bassotti,
New Age Steppers,
Bootsy Collins,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Grey Daturas,
Von Mondo,
Bill Wells,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
John Holt,
Q65,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Gil Scott Heron,
Bluetip,
Chris & Cosey,
Agent Orange,
Fela Kuti,
Quadrant,
The Birthday Party,
Bobby Sherman,
Bronski Beat,
The Last Poets,
Youth Brigade,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Leonard Cohen,
Hasil Adkins,
Johnny Clarke,
Eden Ahbez,
Clear Light,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Black Moon,
CMW,
the Bar-Kays,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Move,
The Velvet Underground,
Connie Case,
The Red Krayola,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.