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 Burkina and from Lagos.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Tokyo.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Deadbeat 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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls 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 a rhodes and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Rapeman,
Nick Fraelich,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lou Reed,
Lalann,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Fugazi,
Chrome,
Lakeside,
The Durutti Column,
Scion,
Roxette,
Glambeats Corp.,
Newcleus,
Sex Pistols,
Desert Stars,
Blancmange,
The Cowsills,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lightning Bolt,
The Invisible,
Steve Hackett,
Todd Rundgren,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tim Buckley,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Average White Band,
Jandek,
Joyce Sims,
The Pop Group,
Fluxion,
The Fuzztones,
Sparks,
Funky Four + One,
Camberwell Now,
Bill Wells,
Michelle Simonal,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Lyres,
Matthew Bourne,
Saccharine Trust,
Smog,
Nico,
Colin Newman,
Youth Brigade,
the Normal,
The Buckinghams,
Ken Boothe,
The Electric Prunes,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
World's Most,
Groovy Waters,
Slave,
T. Rex,
Althea and Donna,
Main Source,
Jacques Brel,
MC5,
Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman, Ornette Coleman.
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.