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 Monaco and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Donald Fagen 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 Blake Baxter to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Cosmic Jokers. All the underground hits.
All DJ Sneak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every China Crisis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Talk Talk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Magma,
Fad Gadget,
Skriet,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bang On A Can,
Stereo Dub,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Man Eating Sloth,
Black Flag,
The Divine Comedy,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Heaven 17,
Frankie Knuckles,
Chrome,
Banda Bassotti,
Nas,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Y Pants,
R.M.O.,
Clear Light,
Gang Green,
Fluxion,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Quantec,
Unwound,
DNA,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Slick Rick,
Brick,
Barbara Tucker,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bill Near,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
David Axelrod,
Rakim,
Sex Pistols,
Alphaville,
Kool Moe Dee,
Reagan Youth,
Con Funk Shun,
Minnie Riperton,
Nico,
Boz Scaggs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Sonics,
The Real Kids,
World's Most,
Fatback Band,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
PIL,
Derrick Morgan,
Vainqueur,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Outsiders,
The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders, The Offenders.
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.