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 Tunisia and from Sao Paulo.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Letta Mbulu to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All Radio Birdman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
Los Fastidios,
Anakelly,
The Blackbyrds,
Urselle,
Adolescents,
Accadde A,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Eve St. Jones,
48th St. Collective,
These Immortal Souls,
Amon Düül,
John Foxx,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Faust,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Tommy Roe,
The Motions,
Pulsallama,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Matthew Bourne,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Moby Grape,
Colin Newman,
Wasted Youth,
Zapp,
Skaos,
Delon & Dalcan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Delta 5,
Gichy Dan,
Sixth Finger,
Jeff Lynne,
Soul II Soul,
the Germs,
Fatback Band,
Cal Tjader,
The Red Krayola,
Donny Hathaway,
Pierre Henry,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Lower 48,
Severed Heads,
Sister Nancy,
Terrestrial Tones,
Soulsonic Force,
Ultravox,
Arab on Radar,
The Buckinghams,
Niagra,
The Doors,
The Cure,
Bad Manners,
LL Cool J,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Walker Brothers,
Nils Olav,
Babytalk,
KRS-One,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.