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 Hungary and from Houston.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Ponytail to the electroclash 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Malaria! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terrestrial Tones record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
K-Klass,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sun Ra,
Ludus,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Glenn Branca,
Loose Ends,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Nirvana,
Derrick May,
Rakim,
These Immortal Souls,
Hashim,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tomorrow,
Nas,
Second Layer,
Wolf Eyes,
John Coltrane,
Soulsonic Force,
Rapeman,
The Trojans,
Andrew Hill,
Severed Heads,
Skarface,
Roxy Music,
Yellowson,
Fluxion,
Archie Shepp,
Intrusion,
The Slackers,
a-ha,
Jeff Lynne,
Faraquet,
Albert Ayler,
Bronski Beat,
Slick Rick,
Lou Reed,
Nils Olav,
Duran Duran,
Ronnie Foster,
John Cale,
Basic Channel,
Minny Pops,
The Evens,
DJ Style,
New Age Steppers,
Animal Collective,
Deakin,
Lalo Schifrin,
Drexciya,
Crispian St. Peters,
Derrick Morgan,
Niagra,
Erykah Badu,
The Real Kids,
Maleditus Sound,
Wally Richardson,
the Sonics,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.