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 Kenya and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 Tomorrow to the techno 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 The New Christs. All the underground hits.
All T. Rex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lindisfarne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter and Kerry,
The United States of America,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pierre Henry,
Juan Atkins,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Human League,
Los Fastidios,
The Leaves,
Chris Corsano,
Fela Kuti,
Delon & Dalcan,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Jacques Brel,
Neil Young,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Buzzcocks,
Pere Ubu,
Rotary Connection,
Lightning Bolt,
Prince Buster,
Cameo,
Panda Bear,
Leonard Cohen,
Reuben Wilson,
Tubeway Army,
Livin' Joy,
Eyeless In Gaza,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
the Bar-Kays,
The Remains,
John Coltrane,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Amon Düül,
Jeff Mills,
Brothers Johnson,
Can,
The Invisible,
The Doobie Brothers,
Con Funk Shun,
Mission of Burma,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sex Pistols,
Warsaw,
Make Up,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Beau Brummels,
the Soft Cell,
the Normal,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Funkadelic,
Minutemen,
The Fortunes,
The Gap Band,
Al Stewart,
Cybotron,
The Martian,
The Five Americans,
Animal Collective,
Youth Brigade,
Aural Exciters,
Bill Wells,
Schoolly D,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.