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 New Zealand and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 It's A Beautiful Day to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sam Rivers. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hoover 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 clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Victims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
Juan Atkins,
Moby Grape,
Robert Wyatt,
Amazonics,
MC5,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Al Stewart,
Fad Gadget,
Scientists,
Crime,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Golliwogs,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Alice Coltrane,
The Modern Lovers,
Procol Harum,
Agitation Free,
Pantaleimon,
Alison Limerick,
Barrington Levy,
Curtis Mayfield,
Kerrie Biddell,
48th St. Collective,
Deadbeat,
The Names,
Pere Ubu,
The Monks,
Unrelated Segments,
Zapp,
Michelle Simonal,
Swans,
Piero Umiliani,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Minnie Riperton,
Eli Mardock,
Patti Smith,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Offenders,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Joyce Sims,
the Soft Cell,
Wasted Youth,
The Doobie Brothers,
KRS-One,
Bob Dylan,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Simply Red,
Joy Division,
10cc,
Ludus,
The Pop Group,
8 Eyed Spy,
UT,
Todd Terry,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ultravox,
The Cramps,
Rakim,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.