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 Turkmenistan and from London.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Dorothy Ashby to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Man Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Sunsets and Hearts tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Nas,
Joe Finger,
Alphaville,
Flash Fearless,
Moss Icon,
Ice-T,
Leonard Cohen,
Donald Byrd,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Fad Gadget,
The Dirtbombs,
Dual Sessions,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Grauzone,
Warren Ellis,
Soul Sonic Force,
Siglo XX,
Spoonie Gee,
Ultimate Spinach,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Sparks,
The Residents,
Mad Mike,
Mr. Review,
the Slits,
Neil Young,
the Swans,
Chrome,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Yazoo,
Rapeman,
Kool Moe Dee,
Smog,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Audionom,
Yusef Lateef,
The Move,
Danielle Patucci,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Robert Hood,
Organ,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bronski Beat,
The Mojo Men,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
X-101,
Liliput,
Deakin,
The Stooges,
Minutemen,
Suburban Knight,
Piero Umiliani,
Pharoah Sanders,
Max Romeo,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Janne Schatter,
Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring, Rites of Spring.
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.