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 Barbados and from London.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Dennis Brown to the grime 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 Janne Schatter. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Hill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Buckinghams record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
KRS-One,
Delta 5,
Public Image Ltd.,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Loose Ends,
Brand Nubian,
Negative Approach,
Scrapy,
Los Fastidios,
Sällskapet,
Pylon,
Outsiders,
Infiniti,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Michelle Simonal,
Simply Red,
Qualms,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Television Personalities,
Aural Exciters,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Invisible,
Camberwell Now,
The Divine Comedy,
Soulsonic Force,
Index,
Lou Christie,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Erykah Badu,
The Fuzztones,
Sound Behaviour,
Judy Mowatt,
Trumans Water,
Interpol,
Ludus,
Popol Vuh,
MC5,
The Associates,
Warren Ellis,
Peter & Gordon,
Kaleidoscope,
The Zeros,
Fatback Band,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Mandrill,
Donny Hathaway,
The Fire Engines,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Massinfluence,
Country Teasers,
Magma,
Pere Ubu,
The Gladiators,
Joe Finger,
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks.
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.