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 Lesotho and from Jakarta.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Nas to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Animal Collective. All the underground hits.
All Ultimate Spinach tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
Yellowson,
Robert Görl,
The Dead C,
Maurizio,
ABC,
Derrick May,
Pharoah Sanders,
Nirvana,
Arcadia,
Jandek,
Tom Boy,
Warsaw,
The Toasters,
Lower 48,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Circle Jerks,
Mars,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Byron Stingily,
Howard Jones,
Patti Smith,
Boredoms,
Minnie Riperton,
Todd Terry,
The Buckinghams,
Moebius,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Move,
Bob Dylan,
ABBA,
These Immortal Souls,
The Sound,
Hoover,
The Invisible,
Alice Coltrane,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Niagra,
Maleditus Sound,
Amazonics,
The Human League,
U.S. Maple,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sparks,
Laurel Aitken,
Bizarre Inc.,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
48th St. Collective,
Fatback Band,
Graham Central Station,
Tubeway Army,
Shuggie Otis,
D'Angelo,
FM Einheit,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Faraquet,
Brick,
Andrew Hill,
Hashim,
8 Eyed Spy,
Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones.
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.