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 Micronesia 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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Kerri Chandler to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 KRS-One. All the underground hits.
All OOIOO tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jesper Dahlbäck record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nik Kershaw record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
the Sonics,
The Fire Engines,
Traffic Nightmare,
Avey Tare,
Kaleidoscope,
Lindisfarne,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Alarm Clocks,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Mantronix,
Soulsonic Force,
The Techniques,
Rosa Yemen,
Monolake,
Animal Collective,
Derrick May,
Smog,
John Foxx,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Howard Jones,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Althea and Donna,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Modern Lovers,
Fluxion,
The Residents,
Aaron Thompson,
Mad Mike,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cluster,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Stereo Dub,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Delta 5,
Slick Rick,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Busters,
Gabor Szabo,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ronan,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Von Mondo,
Public Image Ltd.,
Aural Exciters,
Yaz,
Swell Maps,
Wasted Youth,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Human League,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Cheater Slicks,
New Order,
Carl Craig,
Clear Light,
Todd Rundgren,
Adolescents,
Soft Cell,
Brick, Brick, Brick, Brick.
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.