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 South Africa and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Man Eating Sloth to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lyres. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-102 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mad Mike record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crooked Eye,
Colin Newman,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Sound,
Judy Mowatt,
Jeff Mills,
Trumans Water,
Marine Girls,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Gang Starr,
Boogie Down Productions,
Gang Green,
Alice Coltrane,
the Bar-Kays,
Suburban Knight,
Gang Gang Dance,
Todd Rundgren,
Gerry Rafferty,
Donald Byrd,
Average White Band,
Bootsy Collins,
Supertramp,
Mad Mike,
UT,
Faust,
Chrome,
Rapeman,
Ronnie Foster,
Con Funk Shun,
Fela Kuti,
La Düsseldorf,
June Days,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Robert Görl,
Lindisfarne,
The Move,
cv313,
Fatback Band,
Easy Going,
Amazonics,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Offenders,
Man Parrish,
Connie Case,
The Gun Club,
Boz Scaggs,
Nas,
Procol Harum,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rotary Connection,
Massinfluence,
Electric Prunes,
Yaz,
Faraquet,
Crispy Ambulance,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Tremeloes,
Public Image Ltd.,
Tomorrow,
the Sonics,
Crispian St. Peters,
Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne, Johnny Osbourne.
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.