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 Oman and from Taipei.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish to the rock 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 Deadbeat. All the underground hits.
All The Standells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious Big And Bone Thugs 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crime record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Youth Brigade,
Andrew Hill,
Fat Boys,
Jacob Miller,
Duran Duran,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Dead C,
John Cale,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Johnny Osbourne,
Idris Muhammad,
Dennis Brown,
Joe Finger,
The Wake,
The Remains,
Piero Umiliani,
The Dave Clark Five,
Franke,
Young Marble Giants,
Kerrie Biddell,
Oneida,
Chrome,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Flesh Eaters,
Erykah Badu,
Man Eating Sloth,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Blues Magoos,
Lungfish,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Evens,
Gang Starr,
Quando Quango,
Tommy Roe,
Marmalade,
Grey Daturas,
10cc,
Ponytail,
Dorothy Ashby,
Gastr Del Sol,
Kaleidoscope,
Grauzone,
The Searchers,
Nico,
a-ha,
Ronan,
Eric B and Rakim,
Carl Craig,
Delta 5,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Slave,
Nas,
48th St. Collective,
Mo-Dettes,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Amazonics,
Bobby Womack,
Robert Görl,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Wire,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
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.