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 Philippines and from Manila.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 48th St. Collective to the punk 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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Black Flag tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liliput record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yazoo,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gregory Isaacs,
Arcadia,
Albert Ayler,
Lightning Bolt,
Sexual Harrassment,
Jacques Brel,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Henry Cow,
This Heat,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Soul Sonic Force,
Toni Rubio,
Grauzone,
Soul II Soul,
The Selecter,
Slave,
D'Angelo,
Sandy B,
Newcleus,
Adolescents,
Nas,
10cc,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sex Pistols,
Organ,
Davy DMX,
Roger Hodgson,
Iggy Pop,
Eve St. Jones,
Idris Muhammad,
Lyres,
Gang of Four,
The Golliwogs,
Maleditus Sound,
Sparks,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Mary Jane Girls,
the Normal,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lindisfarne,
Barclay James Harvest,
Boogie Down Productions,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Accadde A,
Pole,
Ronnie Foster,
The Smiths,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Real Kids,
The Doobie Brothers,
Duran Duran,
Ash Ra Tempel,
OOIOO,
Alphaville,
Roy Ayers,
The J.B.'s,
Crash Course in Science, Crash Course in Science, Crash Course in Science, Crash Course in Science.
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.