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 Uganda and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Mexico City.
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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Soft Machine to the dance 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 Nick Fraelich. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marvin Gaye 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marcia Griffiths,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Duran Duran,
Rakim,
Buzzcocks,
Swell Maps,
Patti Smith,
The Human League,
Derrick May,
the Human League,
A Certain Ratio,
Jeff Lynne,
Deepchord,
The Last Poets,
Lucky Dragons,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rekid,
Q and Not U,
John Cale,
Ultimate Spinach,
Gong,
The Divine Comedy,
Panda Bear,
Oneida,
L. Decosne,
David McCallum,
The Move,
Rapeman,
Jerry's Kids,
EPMD,
X-Ray Spex,
Bobby Womack,
Nas,
The Grass Roots,
48th St. Collective,
Tears for Fears,
Lou Christie,
Fatback Band,
Magma,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The J.B.'s,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Minny Pops,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Moleskins,
Electric Prunes,
Parry Music,
The Five Americans,
Interpol,
Arthur Verocai,
Bob Dylan,
10cc,
Alison Limerick,
Warsaw,
JFA,
Letta Mbulu,
Pole,
Procol Harum,
Pierre Henry,
Tomorrow,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.