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 Guyana and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 John Coltrane to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Prince Buster. All the underground hits.
All Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Von Mondo 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Janne Schatter,
The Slackers,
The Real Kids,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gang of Four,
Laurel Aitken,
The Cramps,
Livin' Joy,
the Bar-Kays,
Glambeats Corp.,
Sight & Sound,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Steve Hackett,
Pharoah Sanders,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Morten Harket,
The Gories,
Grauzone,
Arcadia,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Mary Jane Girls,
Joy Division,
ABC,
Wings,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Erykah Badu,
Joey Negro,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
In Retrospect,
Delta 5,
Johnny Osbourne,
Moby Grape,
The Sound,
Deadbeat,
Royal Trux,
Brothers Johnson,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Ohio Players,
Duran Duran,
Skarface,
Robert Görl,
Brick,
Subhumans,
H. Thieme,
The Index,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Rod Modell,
Scan 7,
CMW,
Curtis Mayfield,
Barclay James Harvest,
cv313,
Ponytail,
Surgeon,
Hoover,
Thee Headcoats,
Nik Kershaw,
Qualms,
Jimmy McGriff,
Cecil Taylor,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.