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 Indonesia and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Crispy Ambulance to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All U.S. Maple tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fela Kuti,
ABC,
The Monks,
Whodini,
Can,
Gerry Rafferty,
Roxy Music,
Grandmaster Flash,
Dawn Penn,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Alarm Clocks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Scratch Acid,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Newcleus,
Minor Threat,
Nico,
Kaleidoscope,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
48th St. Collective,
Johnny Clarke,
Robert Görl,
Essential Logic,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
K-Klass,
JFA,
Suburban Knight,
Echospace,
Terry Callier,
In Retrospect,
Nick Fraelich,
Blossom Toes,
Babytalk,
Maleditus Sound,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Max Romeo,
Agitation Free,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Grauzone,
Eli Mardock,
Lightning Bolt,
Joey Negro,
Cymande,
Kerri Chandler,
Malaria!,
the Normal,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Moleskins,
Chris Corsano,
a-ha,
The Standells,
The Misunderstood,
10cc,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Skarface,
Jerry's Kids,
The Gladiators,
Porter Ricks,
Rufus Thomas,
Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav, Nils Olav.
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.