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 Grenada and from Spokane.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gap Band to the jazz 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 Erykah Badu. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mark Hollis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 an arpeggiator and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lebanon Hanover,
Hardrive,
Rites of Spring,
Jeff Mills,
The Velvet Underground,
the Soft Cell,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Don Cherry,
Charles Mingus,
The Gladiators,
Stiv Bators,
Jerry's Kids,
Sam Rivers,
Ken Boothe,
Nas,
Bobby Womack,
The Sound,
Juan Atkins,
Second Layer,
Gichy Dan,
The Fire Engines,
Maleditus Sound,
Pole,
the Bar-Kays,
Barclay James Harvest,
Accadde A,
Q and Not U,
Fear,
The Cowsills,
Los Fastidios,
Skaos,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lalann,
Flamin' Groovies,
Fat Boys,
Monks,
Steve Hackett,
Sun City Girls,
June Days,
Bootsy Collins,
Fifty Foot Hose,
R.M.O.,
Eric Copeland,
Masters at Work,
Fugazi,
Slave,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Aural Exciters,
Yazoo,
Nick Fraelich,
The Selecter,
Kerrie Biddell,
The American Breed,
The Zeros,
Donny Hathaway,
Tears for Fears,
Swell Maps,
Throbbing Gristle,
The United States of America,
Jimmy McGriff,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.