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 Congo and from Lagos.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 arpeggiator 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 Crispy Ambulance to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Skatalites. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kings Of Tomorrow 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Morten Harket,
Cecil Taylor,
Marine Girls,
Goldenarms,
Roy Ayers,
Fugazi,
Loose Ends,
Archie Shepp,
Dorothy Ashby,
Peter & Gordon,
Radio Birdman,
Brass Construction,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
John Foxx,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Unwound,
La Düsseldorf,
Peter and Kerry,
Lou Reed,
John Holt,
The Happenings,
Unrelated Segments,
Swell Maps,
Sam Rivers,
Donny Hathaway,
KRS-One,
Mary Jane Girls,
Rites of Spring,
Monolake,
Von Mondo,
Alice Coltrane,
Derrick Morgan,
Flash Fearless,
The Kinks,
Joensuu 1685,
Suburban Knight,
Nico,
Deakin,
Cluster,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Public Enemy,
R.M.O.,
Brand Nubian,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Five Americans,
Mo-Dettes,
Eden Ahbez,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Connie Case,
Cameo,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ituana,
Bobby Sherman,
Siglo XX,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Residents,
Jacques Brel,
Los Fastidios,
The Dave Clark Five,
Saccharine Trust,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Cal Tjader,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.