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 Uzbekistan and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the 808 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Peanut Butter Conspiracy. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pierre Henry record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Slits,
Sixth Finger,
Barclay James Harvest,
Ultra Naté,
Lalo Schifrin,
Trumans Water,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Mojo Men,
Cameo,
Brand Nubian,
Howard Jones,
Neil Young,
Bad Manners,
Von Mondo,
cv313,
Aaron Thompson,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Symarip,
The Fall,
Rakim,
Drexciya,
Pantytec,
Joensuu 1685,
Robert Wyatt,
Excepter,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Velvet Underground,
Mark Hollis,
World's Most,
Patti Smith,
Tommy Roe,
Faraquet,
Silicon Teens,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Vladislav Delay,
Alice Coltrane,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Scion,
Junior Murvin,
The Litter,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Terry Callier,
The Vogues,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Kaleidoscope,
Babytalk,
Lou Christie,
Nico,
Electric Prunes,
Au Pairs,
the Slits,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Fortunes,
the Swans,
Crash Course in Science,
The Walker Brothers,
The Sonics,
Donny Hathaway,
Chris Corsano,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.