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 Dominica and from Glasgow.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 harpsichord 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 Swell Maps to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Byron Stingily. All the underground hits.
All The Standells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Franke 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gabor Szabo,
Los Fastidios,
Kayak,
Bobby Womack,
Rekid,
Isaac Hayes,
Kerri Chandler,
Girls At Our Best!,
Quantec,
Big Daddy Kane,
Soulsonic Force,
Todd Terry,
The Shadows of Knight,
Peter & Gordon,
The Mummies,
The Slackers,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lalann,
Rosa Yemen,
Roxette,
Gong,
The American Breed,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Essential Logic,
Carl Craig,
Charles Mingus,
Monolake,
Soul II Soul,
Jeru the Damaja,
Robert Görl,
Skaos,
David Axelrod,
Marcia Griffiths,
Icehouse,
Make Up,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Man Parrish,
Cameo,
Public Image Ltd.,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Subhumans,
Patti Smith,
Symarip,
Kas Product,
Black Bananas,
Heaven 17,
Hoover,
Nils Olav,
Lakeside,
Parry Music,
Grauzone,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Dave Clark Five,
JFA,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
China Crisis,
Amazonics,
Shoche,
Pharoah Sanders,
Scan 7,
the Slits,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.