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 Botswana and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 Robert Palmer 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 Ponytail to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Donald Byrd. All the underground hits.
All Lee Hazlewood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Steve Hackett 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?
The Real Kids,
Fluxion,
Lakeside,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Adolescents,
Mo-Dettes,
MC5,
Pantytec,
Harpers Bizarre,
DNA,
The Angels of Light,
Ohio Players,
Pulsallama,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Index,
Steve Hackett,
Tim Buckley,
Porter Ricks,
Gichy Dan,
The Sonics,
The Index,
Zapp,
The Kinks,
Morten Harket,
Pere Ubu,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Toasters,
Radio Birdman,
ABBA,
Royal Trux,
Kevin Saunderson,
Intrusion,
Monolake,
The Moody Blues,
UT,
Trumans Water,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
H. Thieme,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Yellowson,
Prince Buster,
Marshall Jefferson,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Model 500,
Livin' Joy,
Kool Moe Dee,
Half Japanese,
A Certain Ratio,
Tom Boy,
Gabor Szabo,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Severed Heads,
The Smoke,
Can,
Jandek,
Cymande,
Faraquet,
Mandrill,
Warren Ellis,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Flash Fearless,
Idris Muhammad,
Crooked Eye, Crooked Eye, Crooked Eye, Crooked Eye.
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.