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 Ghana and from Houston.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Oppenheimer Analysis to the rock 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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sam Rivers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Goldenarms,
Alphaville,
Country Teasers,
Easy Going,
Gong,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Velvet Underground,
The Standells,
Unwound,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Hashim,
Masters at Work,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Toasters,
Sam Rivers,
Average White Band,
Symarip,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Nik Kershaw,
Electric Prunes,
Flamin' Groovies,
Gregory Isaacs,
D'Angelo,
Inner City,
Rotary Connection,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Dawn Penn,
Donald Byrd,
Eli Mardock,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Gil Scott Heron,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Gladiators,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Faraquet,
Al Stewart,
Organ,
a-ha,
Black Flag,
Joe Finger,
Man Parrish,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Litter,
Oneida,
Basic Channel,
Circle Jerks,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Moody Blues,
Toni Rubio,
Dual Sessions,
Marine Girls,
Pierre Henry,
Magma,
the Fania All-Stars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
X-Ray Spex,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Walker Brothers,
The Blackbyrds,
The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band, The Gap Band.
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.