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 Chad and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the organ 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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch to the grunge 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 Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Lindisfarne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Intrusion,
Brand Nubian,
Camouflage,
Mars,
Jacques Brel,
Scrapy,
Cal Tjader,
The Alarm Clocks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Slackers,
Ultra Naté,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Cybotron,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Robert Wyatt,
Lou Reed,
Lakeside,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sarah Menescal,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Marc Almond,
Pole,
Sister Nancy,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Soft Cell,
D'Angelo,
Skriet,
The Residents,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dark Day,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Robert Görl,
Supertramp,
Peter and Kerry,
Jawbox,
Warsaw,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Red Krayola,
Barrington Levy,
Livin' Joy,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Human League,
Isaac Hayes,
Wire,
Funkadelic,
Michelle Simonal,
Eric Copeland,
Zero Boys,
Hardrive,
Bill Wells,
Monks,
The Victims,
Barry Ungar,
Kerri Chandler,
Prince Buster,
Procol Harum,
Scientists,
Bobby Sherman,
Idris Muhammad,
Tomorrow,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne, L. Decosne.
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.