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 Costa Rica and from Lille.
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 Stockholm and Tehran.
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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the snare 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 Suburban Knight to the disco 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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All The Seeds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Skatalites record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a E-Dancer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bush Tetras,
Harry Pussy,
Michelle Simonal,
Loose Ends,
Faraquet,
Funky Four + One,
The Vogues,
Bizarre Inc.,
a-ha,
Japan,
Blake Baxter,
Ludus,
Make Up,
Von Mondo,
Outsiders,
Fat Boys,
Alice Coltrane,
Los Fastidios,
Slick Rick,
The Moleskins,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Robert Hood,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Monks,
T. Rex,
Flash Fearless,
Jerry's Kids,
the Association,
The Mummies,
Quantec,
Sarah Menescal,
Eric Copeland,
Alison Limerick,
Crooked Eye,
Fear,
The Real Kids,
The Kinks,
Danielle Patucci,
ABBA,
Simply Red,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Patti Smith,
Eli Mardock,
The Birthday Party,
The Slackers,
World's Most,
Ralphi Rosario,
MDC,
Yusef Lateef,
The Buckinghams,
Lightning Bolt,
The Smiths,
Gerry Rafferty,
Little Man,
Kurtis Blow,
Cymande,
Scientists,
Ituana,
Ten City,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
the Normal, the Normal, the Normal, the Normal.
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.