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 Belgium and from Columbus.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Marmalade to the jazz 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 Anakelly. All the underground hits.
All Smog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mission of Burma record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
In Retrospect,
Tropical Tobacco,
Index,
Fela Kuti,
FM Einheit,
Rekid,
Mission of Burma,
Lou Christie,
Circle Jerks,
T.S.O.L.,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Arthur Verocai,
Little Man,
David Bowie,
Schoolly D,
Pylon,
The Searchers,
Minnie Riperton,
Mantronix,
Scientists,
Scion,
Wally Richardson,
Rites of Spring,
Stetsasonic,
La Düsseldorf,
Don Cherry,
The Standells,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Minny Pops,
Alton Ellis,
The Offenders,
Arcadia,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Scratch Acid,
The Index,
The Electric Prunes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Morten Harket,
Shuggie Otis,
Lakeside,
10cc,
Jesper Dahlback,
Howard Jones,
the Human League,
Faust,
Bang On A Can,
Absolute Body Control,
Lucky Dragons,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Vogues,
New York Dolls,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Flamin' Groovies,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Saccharine Trust,
Byron Stingily,
Lalann,
The Kinks,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.