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 St Lucia and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia 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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Laurel Aitken to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Little Man. All the underground hits.
All Red Lorry Yellow Lorry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Kinks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Von Mondo,
Absolute Body Control,
Echospace,
Clear Light,
The Kinks,
Lungfish,
The Slackers,
Lee Hazlewood,
Radiohead,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Wolf Eyes,
Intrusion,
Curtis Mayfield,
Half Japanese,
Aural Exciters,
Sarah Menescal,
Young Marble Giants,
Moebius,
Jimmy McGriff,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Aloha Tigers,
Monks,
Nils Olav,
Boredoms,
OOIOO,
LL Cool J,
Barrington Levy,
Massinfluence,
Underground Resistance,
Idris Muhammad,
ABC,
Maurizio,
Khruangbin,
Warsaw,
Girls At Our Best!,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Los Fastidios,
Moss Icon,
Morten Harket,
Malaria!,
Talk Talk,
Thompson Twins,
Dawn Penn,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Doobie Brothers,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Joe Finger,
Bobby Byrd,
Graham Central Station,
The Misunderstood,
Average White Band,
Joey Negro,
Thee Headcoats,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Blake Baxter,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Bobby Sherman,
Toni Rubio,
Archie Shepp,
Tom Boy,
The Toasters,
Grauzone,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.