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 South Sudan and from Tehran.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Notorious Big And Bone Thugs to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Girls At Our Best!. All the underground hits.
All Harmonia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arcadia record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Magma record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Delta 5,
The Buckinghams,
Gastr Del Sol,
Judy Mowatt,
New Age Steppers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Erykah Badu,
Dual Sessions,
Kool Moe Dee,
48th St. Collective,
Au Pairs,
Connie Case,
Blancmange,
Don Cherry,
Fatback Band,
The Gladiators,
The Slits,
Urselle,
Soul Sonic Force,
Malaria!,
Bobby Womack,
Hoover,
Von Mondo,
It's A Beautiful Day,
10cc,
Funkadelic,
Television Personalities,
The Fall,
In Retrospect,
Colin Newman,
Neil Young,
Eddi Front,
Motorama,
Jerry's Kids,
EPMD,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Gang of Four,
Pole,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Monochrome Set,
Rod Modell,
Infiniti,
Cybotron,
E-Dancer,
June of 44,
Animal Collective,
Parry Music,
Easy Going,
The Sonics,
The Standells,
Soft Machine,
Soul II Soul,
Fluxion,
Guru Guru,
Stiv Bators,
Arcadia,
Subhumans,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.