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 Solomon Islands and from Accra.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Television to the disco 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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Quadrant record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord 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 arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Blues Magoos,
Henry Cow,
Quadrant,
The Wake,
The Evens,
Minnie Riperton,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Divine Comedy,
Nick Fraelich,
Qualms,
Eric Dolphy,
Pussy Galore,
In Retrospect,
Barrington Levy,
Jacob Miller,
Soul II Soul,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Tears for Fears,
Lyres,
Crispian St. Peters,
the Human League,
Silicon Teens,
Althea and Donna,
Buzzcocks,
Lou Christie,
Pierre Henry,
Television,
Lightning Bolt,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Saints,
Blossom Toes,
Moss Icon,
Pantaleimon,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Drexciya,
Ludus,
Marc Almond,
Lower 48,
Goldenarms,
Magazine,
Junior Murvin,
Derrick Morgan,
Jacques Brel,
PIL,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Roxy Music,
Mad Mike,
A Certain Ratio,
Scion,
Scrapy,
Outsiders,
Intrusion,
Radio Birdman,
Derrick May,
Peter and Kerry,
Jerry's Kids,
Con Funk Shun,
Sixth Finger,
The Fuzztones,
The Last Poets,
Judy Mowatt,
Audionom, Audionom, Audionom, Audionom.
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.