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 Bangladesh and from Woodstock.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Bobby Byrd to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Kerri Chandler. All the underground hits.
All Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joyce Sims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Neu!,
Angry Samoans,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
OOIOO,
The Vogues,
Joe Smooth,
This Heat,
The Gories,
June of 44,
Yellowson,
Ludus,
Bobby Sherman,
Derrick May,
Barry Ungar,
Eden Ahbez,
Aaron Thompson,
Fugazi,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Swell Maps,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Yusef Lateef,
the Swans,
Animal Collective,
Sister Nancy,
Isaac Hayes,
Wasted Youth,
The Dirtbombs,
Spandau Ballet,
The Blues Magoos,
Terry Callier,
Chris & Cosey,
The Motions,
Robert Wyatt,
The Slackers,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bauhaus,
Dawn Penn,
Avey Tare,
The Red Krayola,
Anthony Braxton,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Fluxion,
The Barracudas,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Mars,
Sight & Sound,
Gregory Isaacs,
Hot Snakes,
Soulsonic Force,
Khruangbin,
Throbbing Gristle,
Delta 5,
Eric Dolphy,
the Slits,
Joyce Sims,
Swans,
Morten Harket,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Max Romeo,
Gerry Rafferty,
Grauzone,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.