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 New Zealand and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in 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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 spring reverb 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 Main Source to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Depeche Mode. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Archie Shepp 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Don Cherry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tears for Fears,
The Young Rascals,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Spandau Ballet,
Scott Walker,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Beau Brummels,
Deadbeat,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Alton Ellis,
Davy DMX,
Colin Newman,
Pierre Henry,
Minny Pops,
The Invisible,
Sex Pistols,
The Fortunes,
Sun Ra,
Unwound,
Jimmy McGriff,
Das Ding,
Eddi Front,
the Sonics,
Andrew Hill,
The Smoke,
Television,
Angry Samoans,
Bluetip,
Quadrant,
Sound Behaviour,
Tim Buckley,
Dawn Penn,
Black Flag,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Cymande,
Cybotron,
Shuggie Otis,
Ronnie Foster,
Brass Construction,
Kenny Larkin,
Animal Collective,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Soul Sonic Force,
Pantytec,
Bad Manners,
Motorama,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fad Gadget,
The Busters,
Kaleidoscope,
Johnny Osbourne,
Tres Demented,
The Pretty Things,
Fluxion,
Yaz,
Half Japanese,
U.S. Maple,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Remains,
Ten City,
Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine, Soft Machine.
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.