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 Morocco and from Toronto.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Isaac Hayes to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Bobby Hutcherson. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
D'Angelo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jawbox,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Joey Negro,
Stiv Bators,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Thompson Twins,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
New Order,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Country Teasers,
Nirvana,
Scan 7,
FM Einheit,
Al Stewart,
Byron Stingily,
Johnny Osbourne,
Youth Brigade,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Soul II Soul,
Moss Icon,
R.M.O.,
Bobby Womack,
Suburban Knight,
The Black Dice,
ABC,
Pierre Henry,
Sun Ra,
Mantronix,
The Happenings,
X-Ray Spex,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bill Near,
Bob Dylan,
Newcleus,
Mission of Burma,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sarah Menescal,
Animal Collective,
Excepter,
Fatback Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Icehouse,
T.S.O.L.,
Boredoms,
Lightning Bolt,
Pantaleimon,
Fear,
The Cowsills,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Kerri Chandler,
Technova,
Peter & Gordon,
Babytalk,
Slave,
The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators, The Gladiators.
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.