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 Taiwan and from Johannesburg.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Holger Czukay 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 Joey Negro to the funk 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 Liaisons Dangereuses. All the underground hits.
All T. Rex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Count Five 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Andrew Hill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Theoretical Girls,
Juan Atkins,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Average White Band,
It's A Beautiful Day,
John Cale,
Gabor Szabo,
Tom Boy,
Freddie Wadling,
Alphaville,
Avey Tare,
Buzzcocks,
The Smoke,
The Durutti Column,
Wings,
David Bowie,
Idris Muhammad,
Bobby Byrd,
X-Ray Spex,
Reagan Youth,
Mandrill,
Ice-T,
The Walker Brothers,
Junior Murvin,
Shuggie Otis,
Livin' Joy,
The Slits,
Skriet,
Hoover,
Gang Starr,
Barrington Levy,
The Alarm Clocks,
Banda Bassotti,
Desert Stars,
The Dave Clark Five,
Zapp,
Graham Central Station,
Boogie Down Productions,
Amon Düül II,
The Barracudas,
the Soft Cell,
The Doobie Brothers,
David Axelrod,
Crime,
The Litter,
Gichy Dan,
The Smiths,
Harry Pussy,
Bobby Sherman,
MC5,
Andrew Hill,
Pet Shop Boys,
Yusef Lateef,
Panda Bear,
Bootsy Collins,
Mr. Review,
Sun City Girls,
Marvin Gaye,
Soft Machine,
Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese, Half Japanese.
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.