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 Finland and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 synthesizer 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Nick Fraelich. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Strawberry Alarm Clock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott Heron,
Yusef Lateef,
James White and The Blacks,
Hot Snakes,
Alice Coltrane,
Pulsallama,
Camouflage,
Lou Reed,
Au Pairs,
Tomorrow,
Boz Scaggs,
Pharoah Sanders,
Gong,
Brick,
Al Stewart,
Morten Harket,
Outsiders,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Marmalade,
Peter & Gordon,
Throbbing Gristle,
Siglo XX,
Pagans,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Stetsasonic,
Letta Mbulu,
Todd Rundgren,
The Remains,
The Move,
Pantaleimon,
Glenn Branca,
Suburban Knight,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bobby Sherman,
Second Layer,
The Mummies,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Simply Red,
The Divine Comedy,
JFA,
Talk Talk,
Bang On A Can,
The Music Machine,
K-Klass,
Jeff Mills,
Fat Boys,
Japan,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Jacob Miller,
Ken Boothe,
Duran Duran,
Public Image Ltd.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
X-102,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Associates,
The Grass Roots,
The Blackbyrds,
Henry Cow,
The Fire Engines,
Yazoo,
H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme, H. Thieme.
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.