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 Comoros and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Michael McDonald 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 Vainqueur to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Graham Central Station record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
Oneida,
The Move,
Cecil Taylor,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Stereo Dub,
Bootsy Collins,
Tomorrow,
Amon Düül,
Drexciya,
Jacob Miller,
R.M.O.,
Glenn Branca,
The Names,
Minor Threat,
Panda Bear,
Junior Murvin,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bang On A Can,
Joensuu 1685,
Robert Wyatt,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
MC5,
Brass Construction,
The Trojans,
Mo-Dettes,
Japan,
Aural Exciters,
ABBA,
The Raincoats,
Wasted Youth,
Motorama,
The Smoke,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Litter,
Angry Samoans,
Pere Ubu,
Jeff Mills,
Girls At Our Best!,
Lebanon Hanover,
June of 44,
Danielle Patucci,
The Searchers,
Rotary Connection,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Alton Ellis,
Fluxion,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scott Walker,
The Invisible,
Mission of Burma,
Susan Cadogan,
Kerri Chandler,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Supertramp,
Morten Harket,
Hardrive,
The Slits,
Procol Harum,
Eddi Front,
Avey Tare,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.