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 New Zealand and from Taipei.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the organ 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 Moss Icon to the rap 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Bananas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Thee Headcoats,
Black Pus,
Minor Threat,
Nas,
Bad Manners,
Shuggie Otis,
The Five Americans,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Knickerbockers,
Von Mondo,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Doobie Brothers,
Television Personalities,
The Cure,
The Zeros,
48th St. Collective,
Index,
Michelle Simonal,
The Doors,
Mark Hollis,
Slave,
John Coltrane,
H. Thieme,
Davy DMX,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
ABBA,
Drive Like Jehu,
Isaac Hayes,
Pulsallama,
Simply Red,
Soul II Soul,
The Detroit Cobras,
the Human League,
Tommy Roe,
Ultra Naté,
The Seeds,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Excepter,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Crispian St. Peters,
Shoche,
CMW,
Hot Snakes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Brothers Johnson,
kango's stein massive,
Bobby Womack,
Bauhaus,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Ponytail,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Main Source,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Flash Fearless,
Grey Daturas,
Skaos,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Gil Scott Heron,
Curtis Mayfield,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders, Pharoah Sanders.
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.