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 Sri Lanka and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Monks to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Residents. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gun Club record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Piero Umiliani record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gichy Dan,
Albert Ayler,
The Busters,
DJ Style,
Tubeway Army,
The Residents,
the Germs,
EPMD,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
It's A Beautiful Day,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Quadrant,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Tim Buckley,
Aloha Tigers,
10cc,
X-Ray Spex,
Drexciya,
Skaos,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Scrapy,
Gang Green,
Soft Machine,
The Durutti Column,
Lou Reed,
Ludus,
Niagra,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Martian,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bobby Womack,
Big Daddy Kane,
Donald Byrd,
The United States of America,
Spoonie Gee,
Mark Hollis,
Gong,
Piero Umiliani,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Pop Group,
Blossom Toes,
Pantytec,
The Cowsills,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Star Department,
Eden Ahbez,
Soulsonic Force,
Fad Gadget,
Eli Mardock,
The Fortunes,
Grandmaster Flash,
Kerri Chandler,
Von Mondo,
Gil Scott Heron,
Suburban Knight,
Isaac Hayes,
Buzzcocks,
Arab on Radar,
The Golliwogs,
Dual Sessions,
Talk Talk,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Blackbyrds,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.