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 Israel and from Bremen.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 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 Average White Band to the jazz 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 The Selecter. All the underground hits.
All Piero Umiliani tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every FM Einheit record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
Rakim,
a-ha,
Joe Smooth,
Altered Images,
Clear Light,
Chris Corsano,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Techniques,
Michelle Simonal,
Animal Collective,
Dead Boys,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ronan,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Radiopuhelimet,
A Certain Ratio,
New York Dolls,
Bush Tetras,
10cc,
Moebius,
Swell Maps,
Qualms,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Hardrive,
Lalo Schifrin,
Deadbeat,
The Invisible,
Joey Negro,
Blossom Toes,
Brand Nubian,
Camberwell Now,
Donny Hathaway,
Quando Quango,
Bootsy Collins,
the Normal,
Joy Division,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Gap Band,
Pylon,
Main Source,
Morten Harket,
Steve Hackett,
Can,
Charles Mingus,
The Gories,
The Doobie Brothers,
John Foxx,
DNA,
Susan Cadogan,
Country Joe & The Fish,
June of 44,
Aural Exciters,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Slits,
La Düsseldorf,
Crispy Ambulance,
the Human League,
The Blues Magoos,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.