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 Maldives and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Judy Mowatt. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Prince Buster 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Simply Red,
Piero Umiliani,
John Foxx,
Ossler,
OOIOO,
Supertramp,
The Smiths,
the Association,
Silicon Teens,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
a-ha,
Terrestrial Tones,
Oblivians,
Icehouse,
Girls At Our Best!,
the Soft Cell,
The Black Dice,
Barrington Levy,
Saccharine Trust,
Bill Near,
The Move,
Lakeside,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Camouflage,
Todd Rundgren,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Thompson Twins,
The Cure,
Gerry Rafferty,
Slave,
Pylon,
The Fire Engines,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
FM Einheit,
Matthew Halsall,
EPMD,
Brick,
Buzzcocks,
The Blackbyrds,
Magazine,
Babytalk,
The Cowsills,
Fatback Band,
Soul II Soul,
Freddie Wadling,
Joe Finger,
Desert Stars,
Rosa Yemen,
Erykah Badu,
Porter Ricks,
Archie Shepp,
Model 500,
Andrew Hill,
Pussy Galore,
Michelle Simonal,
Mars,
The Invisible,
The Fortunes,
Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon.
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.