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 Somalia and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 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 Essential Logic to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All R.M.O. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mummies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Ituana,
Leonard Cohen,
Andrew Hill,
Nico,
Wasted Youth,
Fluxion,
F. McDonald,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
John Cale,
Albert Ayler,
Quando Quango,
Jacob Miller,
The Music Machine,
Dark Day,
The Modern Lovers,
The United States of America,
Electric Prunes,
T. Rex,
Scan 7,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Residents,
Sight & Sound,
Donald Byrd,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Doors,
Zero Boys,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ossler,
Sonic Youth,
Crooked Eye,
James White and The Blacks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Stereo Dub,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Mars,
Infiniti,
Judy Mowatt,
Supertramp,
Eric Dolphy,
The Happenings,
the Swans,
London Community Gospel Choir,
John Holt,
A Flock of Seagulls,
X-Ray Spex,
The Gladiators,
Jeff Mills,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Thee Headcoats,
Masters at Work,
The J.B.'s,
Make Up,
Minutemen,
Rakim,
kango's stein massive,
Scott Walker,
Pulsallama,
Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu, Drive Like Jehu.
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.