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 Ireland and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 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 Idris Muhammad to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Wake record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Little Man,
Marshall Jefferson,
Soft Cell,
These Immortal Souls,
Lou Reed,
Qualms,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Wake,
Marmalade,
Hot Snakes,
Moebius,
Basic Channel,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Dead C,
Excepter,
DNA,
Blancmange,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gabor Szabo,
Lebanon Hanover,
the Human League,
Yaz,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
David McCallum,
Accadde A,
X-Ray Spex,
Henry Cow,
Stereo Dub,
Vladislav Delay,
AZ,
Robert Görl,
Adolescents,
Public Enemy,
La Düsseldorf,
Agitation Free,
Amon Düül,
Brand Nubian,
Marc Almond,
Eddi Front,
Monks,
The Slackers,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lou Christie,
Mad Mike,
Scrapy,
Michelle Simonal,
Gregory Isaacs,
Harry Pussy,
Lyres,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Sonny Sharrock,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Derrick May,
Minnie Riperton,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Black Moon,
Subhumans,
The Leaves,
R.M.O.,
Vainqueur,
The Pop Group,
Black Sheep,
Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan.
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.