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 Niger and from Jakarta.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Arab on Radar to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Divine Comedy. All the underground hits.
All The Saints tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bill Wells record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Charles Mingus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cal Tjader,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Icehouse,
the Fania All-Stars,
Unwound,
Sun Ra,
The Victims,
Sun City Girls,
Qualms,
10cc,
James White and The Blacks,
Agent Orange,
Avey Tare,
Joy Division,
Magazine,
Scion,
Gong,
The Electric Prunes,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pole,
Barrington Levy,
Deepchord,
Mandrill,
Heaven 17,
Bizarre Inc.,
Absolute Body Control,
KRS-One,
The Pretty Things,
Lower 48,
The Toasters,
Sam Rivers,
Das Ding,
Eric Copeland,
the Bar-Kays,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Young Marble Giants,
Radiohead,
cv313,
The Human League,
Davy DMX,
Thee Headcoats,
Brothers Johnson,
Tubeway Army,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Aloha Tigers,
Warsaw,
Camberwell Now,
Peter & Gordon,
Derrick Morgan,
The Durutti Column,
Unrelated Segments,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Underground Resistance,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Letta Mbulu,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ituana,
The Birthday Party,
T.S.O.L.,
Swell Maps,
Gichy Dan,
Fela Kuti,
Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad, Idris Muhammad.
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.