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 Saudi Arabia and from Columbus.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Last Poets to the techno 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 Techniques. All the underground hits.
All Idris Muhammad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joyce Sims record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Sneak,
The Skatalites,
Tubeway Army,
Quantec,
Dead Boys,
Isaac Hayes,
Pylon,
X-101,
Buzzcocks,
Byron Stingily,
Ice-T,
The Trojans,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
A Flock of Seagulls,
John Cale,
Davy DMX,
DJ Style,
Second Layer,
The Shadows of Knight,
Darondo,
Schoolly D,
Swans,
Aloha Tigers,
Idris Muhammad,
The Searchers,
a-ha,
Gil Scott Heron,
Procol Harum,
Prince Buster,
The Durutti Column,
Ossler,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Modern Lovers,
Sugar Minott,
Quadrant,
Index,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Alice Coltrane,
Gichy Dan,
Deepchord,
June Days,
Cheater Slicks,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
JFA,
Marcia Griffiths,
Japan,
Gregory Isaacs,
Derrick Morgan,
PIL,
Mark Hollis,
Harmonia,
Rod Modell,
Brick,
The Smiths,
Ponytail,
Funky Four + One,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Joe Finger,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.