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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Stockholm.
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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Slave to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All Jacques Brel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Art Ensemble Of Chicago 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultimate Spinach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cosmic Jokers,
Guru Guru,
48th St. Collective,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Cal Tjader,
Arthur Verocai,
The United States of America,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
John Lydon,
the Normal,
Khruangbin,
Nik Kershaw,
Chrome,
Das Ding,
Soul Sonic Force,
Grauzone,
China Crisis,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
World's Most,
Dennis Brown,
The Moody Blues,
X-Ray Spex,
Country Teasers,
JFA,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Hardrive,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
10cc,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Skarface,
Make Up,
Section 25,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Magazine,
Soul II Soul,
Rhythm & Sound,
Godley & Creme,
Kenny Larkin,
Tomorrow,
The Remains,
Quando Quango,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Aural Exciters,
The Moleskins,
Porter Ricks,
Mad Mike,
Cheater Slicks,
Hot Snakes,
The Wake,
Urselle,
The Pop Group,
Black Flag,
Vainqueur,
The Sonics,
Jimmy McGriff,
Dorothy Ashby,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Stiv Bators,
Curtis Mayfield,
Avey Tare,
The Mojo Men,
DNA,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
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.