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 Chile and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Mandrill to the grunge 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 Barrington Levy. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Shadows of Knight 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül II,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Dirtbombs,
Public Image Ltd.,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Newcleus,
Tom Boy,
UT,
KRS-One,
Soft Machine,
The Walker Brothers,
Negative Approach,
This Heat,
Masters at Work,
Livin' Joy,
Leonard Cohen,
The Blues Magoos,
Panda Bear,
Bootsy Collins,
Crispy Ambulance,
Gang Green,
Alice Coltrane,
Babytalk,
The Litter,
ABBA,
Bauhaus,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lou Christie,
the Normal,
The Busters,
Black Moon,
Jawbox,
Sällskapet,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Royal Trux,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Anakelly,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
One Last Wish,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Victims,
Sandy B,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Human League,
Sex Pistols,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
X-Ray Spex,
Electric Prunes,
The Gladiators,
Graham Central Station,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Buckinghams,
Susan Cadogan,
Circle Jerks,
Lightning Bolt,
Roxette,
Niagra,
Howard Jones,
Model 500,
Con Funk Shun,
Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl, Robert Görl.
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.