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 Poland and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Livin' Joy 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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All John Lydon 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 electroclash 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 a clarinet and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a La Düsseldorf record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The American Breed,
Iggy Pop,
Adolescents,
John Holt,
Livin' Joy,
The Barracudas,
Arcadia,
Second Layer,
Thee Headcoats,
Rufus Thomas,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Techniques,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Grass Roots,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sam Rivers,
Soul II Soul,
Pulsallama,
The Pretty Things,
AZ,
Aaron Thompson,
The Cramps,
New York Dolls,
the Soft Cell,
Sister Nancy,
Camouflage,
Marc Almond,
Skriet,
Letta Mbulu,
Camberwell Now,
Nico,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Section 25,
Flipper,
Half Japanese,
Althea and Donna,
Clear Light,
Loose Ends,
Scratch Acid,
Eli Mardock,
The Young Rascals,
Carl Craig,
Dawn Penn,
Glenn Branca,
KRS-One,
The Walker Brothers,
Surgeon,
The New Christs,
The Invisible,
Ponytail,
Janne Schatter,
Nils Olav,
The Electric Prunes,
The Litter,
Boogie Down Productions,
David McCallum,
Graham Central Station,
Tommy Roe,
Alphaville,
Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood, Robert Hood.
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.