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 Ghana and from Spokane.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Accra.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Vaughan Mason & Crew to the techno 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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All KRS-One tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cowsills record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Robert Wyatt record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chrome,
In Retrospect,
Flipper,
Ludus,
Sällskapet,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Reuben Wilson,
David Axelrod,
Organ,
Roxy Music,
Shoche,
The Victims,
One Last Wish,
Public Image Ltd.,
Pierre Henry,
The Stooges,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Josef K,
Ken Boothe,
Lower 48,
The Skatalites,
The Invisible,
Scientists,
Brass Construction,
Dawn Penn,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
T. Rex,
The Smiths,
The Leaves,
China Crisis,
Archie Shepp,
Sex Pistols,
Anthony Braxton,
Ponytail,
Tommy Roe,
Slick Rick,
Gil Scott Heron,
Desert Stars,
MDC,
Magma,
The Gories,
Pet Shop Boys,
Rakim,
Das Ding,
EPMD,
The Birthday Party,
Amazonics,
Motorama,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Associates,
Jimmy McGriff,
Soft Cell,
The Standells,
Intrusion,
Livin' Joy,
Amon Düül II,
Public Enemy,
The Techniques,
Adolescents,
Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh, Popol Vuh.
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.