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 Nigeria and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 R.M.O. to the techno 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 In Retrospect. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Vainqueur,
Dual Sessions,
Mary Jane Girls,
PIL,
Organ,
The Stooges,
The Fall,
The Searchers,
Black Flag,
Frankie Knuckles,
Erykah Badu,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Surgeon,
Robert Görl,
Stockholm Monsters,
Yusef Lateef,
The Barracudas,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Rod Modell,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Throbbing Gristle,
Silicon Teens,
Excepter,
The Leaves,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Alison Limerick,
Colin Newman,
Second Layer,
The American Breed,
The Doobie Brothers,
Lucky Dragons,
Black Sheep,
Absolute Body Control,
Bronski Beat,
Eric Dolphy,
Bobby Womack,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Tres Demented,
The Blackbyrds,
Barbara Tucker,
Angry Samoans,
CMW,
The Move,
Ponytail,
Jimmy McGriff,
Gichy Dan,
Scott Walker,
Nils Olav,
Youth Brigade,
Man Parrish,
Aloha Tigers,
U.S. Maple,
The Fortunes,
K-Klass,
The Litter,
The Pop Group,
Sun City Girls,
Crime,
Procol Harum,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.