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 Antigua and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 linndrum 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 Nick Fraelich to the crunk 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 The Toasters. All the underground hits.
All Rhythim Is Rhythim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tim Buckley record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
New Age Steppers,
Scan 7,
Cameo,
This Heat,
Peter and Kerry,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Man Eating Sloth,
Althea and Donna,
The Knickerbockers,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Todd Terry,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Marvin Gaye,
Ludus,
Mandrill,
Rod Modell,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Moss Icon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Joyce Sims,
Altered Images,
Roxette,
Sam Rivers,
Radiohead,
The Techniques,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Misunderstood,
Roy Ayers,
R.M.O.,
X-Ray Spex,
The New Christs,
Jesper Dahlback,
The American Breed,
The Flesh Eaters,
Motorama,
Sixth Finger,
Carl Craig,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Wally Richardson,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
X-101,
ABC,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eric Dolphy,
Livin' Joy,
Kaleidoscope,
The Durutti Column,
Faraquet,
The Shadows of Knight,
Liliput,
Monks,
Aural Exciters,
The Five Americans,
Yusef Lateef,
The Evens,
David Bowie,
Lightning Bolt,
The Raincoats,
Lalann,
Rhythm & Sound,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.