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 Mali and from Copenhagen.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe 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 Kango’s Stein Massive to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Letta Mbulu. All the underground hits.
All Lightning Bolt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amazonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an oboe and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Heaven 17,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Zero Boys,
Ultravox,
Zapp,
Bizarre Inc.,
Soul Sonic Force,
Stetsasonic,
Big Daddy Kane,
Eric Dolphy,
Spandau Ballet,
Grey Daturas,
Aaron Thompson,
Brass Construction,
Jimmy McGriff,
Peter and Kerry,
Niagra,
Cecil Taylor,
Lightning Bolt,
Sun Ra,
Brand Nubian,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Leaves,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Inner City,
Jandek,
Gang of Four,
Black Moon,
Ronnie Foster,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Grauzone,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
the Bar-Kays,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Clear Light,
Lower 48,
MC5,
The Monochrome Set,
The Tremeloes,
Man Parrish,
Faraquet,
Ronan,
Masters at Work,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Detroit Cobras,
Technova,
the Slits,
Terry Callier,
Swell Maps,
Underground Resistance,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Cal Tjader,
The Modern Lovers,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kurtis Blow,
Scion,
The Human League,
Charles Mingus,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.