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 Guatemala and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Sexual Harrassment to the funk 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 The Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Cheater Slicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rotary Connection 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
Gerry Rafferty,
Patti Smith,
Pussy Galore,
Hashim,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sam Rivers,
Ossler,
Ituana,
Quando Quango,
Andrew Hill,
Amon Düül,
Charles Mingus,
Fugazi,
Anthony Braxton,
Boogie Down Productions,
the Swans,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Anakelly,
Yellowson,
Sound Behaviour,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Quadrant,
The Pretty Things,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
FM Einheit,
Carl Craig,
The Real Kids,
Bob Dylan,
Reagan Youth,
Dennis Brown,
the Germs,
A Certain Ratio,
Mandrill,
Youth Brigade,
Swell Maps,
The Fortunes,
The Vogues,
Girls At Our Best!,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Barrington Levy,
The Slackers,
Amon Düül II,
Barry Ungar,
The Black Dice,
Chris Corsano,
Agitation Free,
Negative Approach,
Rufus Thomas,
Soul II Soul,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
LL Cool J,
Franke,
John Cale,
Idris Muhammad,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Banda Bassotti,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Moleskins,
Electric Prunes,
Flamin' Groovies,
Eurythmics,
Vainqueur,
Pole, Pole, Pole, Pole.
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.