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 Djibouti and from Winnipeg.
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 Glasgow and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Men They Couldn't Hang to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Golliwogs. All the underground hits.
All Lightning Bolt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Chocolate Watch Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Wyatt,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
China Crisis,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Spandau Ballet,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Max Romeo,
The Pop Group,
The Motions,
Michelle Simonal,
Thee Headcoats,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Velvet Underground,
Minor Threat,
Flamin' Groovies,
Jerry's Kids,
Yusef Lateef,
Bush Tetras,
Smog,
Ronnie Foster,
Mark Hollis,
Icehouse,
Fela Kuti,
John Holt,
Boredoms,
Bluetip,
Saccharine Trust,
The Evens,
Kerrie Biddell,
Wally Richardson,
Black Bananas,
Banda Bassotti,
The Associates,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Yellowson,
Supertramp,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Angels of Light,
Minutemen,
Bobby Womack,
Sister Nancy,
Fat Boys,
The Techniques,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Al Stewart,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gichy Dan,
Pagans,
Susan Cadogan,
The Gladiators,
Agent Orange,
Ultravox,
Jimmy McGriff,
Man Eating Sloth,
the Normal,
Marc Almond,
Jacques Brel,
the Human League,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ornette Coleman,
Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry, Todd Terry.
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.